Holding On | Bucky Barnes

7 | Friday, December 24th

"Oh, very heavy. Very few people can lift it," Thor explains.

"Let them try, Thor," I say, elbowing his arm.

"I'm not sure that is—"

"Just do it," I whisper.

"Alright, who's first?" Thor asks.

"Me!" Cass yells, standing up.

"Is this a good idea?" Sarah asks, looking from Thor to her kids.

"Don't worry, they can do it," I smile.

Cass wraps his hand around the hilt and Thor slowly lets his fingers unwrap. I reach out and grab the hammer, holding it up for the young boy as his eyes widen and he smiles. "It's not heavy at all!" he laughs. "I am Thor, God of Thunder and Lightning!" he shouts, holding the hammer in the air.

Everyone giggles and his brother taps him on the shoulder.

"Let me try," he says excitedly. Cass hands it over and AJ smiles and laughs, turning in a circle. "Does this mean we can be Avengers?!"

"Maybe when you're older," Sam chuckles. "But you're obviously both worthy."

There's that 'worthy' again.

What is that about?

"You both should be very proud, even Iron Man can't lift my hammer," Thor says stoically.

They both turn wide-eyed to look at Tony.

"My twenties were wild," he shrugs.

"Yah," I chuckle, "your twenties."

I look back to the boys and they play fight, dodging and tumbling to the ground.

"Alright, I think we can put the giant hammer down now," Sarah laughs.

AJ nods and hands it back to Thor. "Thank you, Thor," the two boys say in unison.

They're so cute.

I let the weight go and smile over to Thor.

He places Mjölnir onto the ground beside the couch and I stand and head into the kitchen, refilling my mug with coffee. My eyes wander to the window and a smile grows on my face.

"You boys brought jackets, right?"

"Mhmm," they call from the living room.

"Want to go play in the snow?"

Both boys gasp and run to the window at the far end of the room.

"It's snowing! Mom, can we go outside?" AJ yells from the window, not taking his nose off the glass.

"Get dressed and then yes, we can go," Sarah smiles. They bolt across the living room and towards the stairs. "Slow down! And make sure to put on those snow pants I got you! And socks! I will be checking!" Sarah yells after them.

I giggle and take a sip of the coffee.

After the boys are dressed, I head into my room and grab my boots, gloves, and a jacket, before meeting Bucky in the hall and heading downstairs. Everyone hurries outside and although there isn't much snow, the boys run around excitedly.

"Here," I say, grabbing onto the snow from as far as I can reach, and pulling it inward. I stop when there are a few inches concentrated in front of us. The boys laugh and jump around, deciding to make a snowman. They start packing a hump onto the ground, dragging snow from a circle around them.

Bucky chuckles and steps forward to crouch in front of them. "Okay, boys, let me show you how to make a snowman," he says gently, helping them with making a ball and beginning to roll it around. Soon the bottom ball is done, and they start on the next.