Fuzzy Socks

It was early November in New York when the first snow of the season arrived. Snow, of course wasn't really all that special in itself, but to a good few of the Avengers, it was amazing. For Thor, it was one of the wonders of Midgard. Thor had seen plenty of snow in his travels, but he had never played in it. Jane had taught him to build 'snowmen' and Thor was hooked. For Steve, it was amazing to think that he could even go outside. Before the serum, Steve couldn't handle the cold and was forced to stay inside while the other kids ran about in the frozen streets with glee. But now, he could go outside with the rest of the team and enjoy himself. Clint and Natasha loved snow ball wars and the like because they were robbed of their childhoods and now finally got to enjoy themselves. Even Tony like a good roll in the snow. All of the Avengers loved the snow, all but one.

It wasn't that Bucky hated the cold and snow, he'd just seen enough of it to last him a lifetime. Multiple life times. Bucky never wanted to be cold again, and honestly who could blame him. He would spend the cloudy icy days on the sofa, burrito'd in a heap of blankets, watching movies with tropical settings. When he was first rescued, Bucky began to associate being warm with being safe. Sometimes, the others would stay inside with him, but more often than not, they couldn't resist their inner child and wander back out into the cold again. Bucky was fine with this. Being alone was one of the luxuries he'd learned to appreciate.

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Once the weather had officially changed from fall to winter, Darcy took up her knitting. She loved to knit, but only did so when she thought it was necessary. When Darcy found herself in a tower surrounded by crazy superheroes who loved to go outside in unholy temperatures, Darcy figured it was high time somebody gave them hats and gloves to keep them warm. It didn't matter if they were 'super' or not, it was cold out!

So Darcy started to stay in more while the others played about in the snow. She would sit on the couch next to Bucky and knit silently for hours at a time, making personalized winter gear. Everyone received hats, scarves, and gloves. Darcy even learned to make knitted headbands and infinity scarves for her fellow ladies in the tower.

Every time Darcy would knit next to Bucky, he would shove his freezing cold feet under her for extra warmth. Darcy was a little shocked and confused the first couple of times, but a wink and a smirk from Bucky was all she needed to roll with it. This of course gave Darcy the perfect idea.

After she had finished making sure all the Avengers were properly dressed to handle the cold, cruel world, Darcy started knitting socks. Wool socks in many different colors and patterns. Bucky was confused as to what she was doing with them because she never seemed to give them to anybody and never wore any herself. Darcy would just sit there, on top of his frozen feet and make sock after sock. He never brought it up to her though; he was too content to disturb the silence and gentle click clack of her needles.

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Soon enough Christmas came to the tower and presents, of course, were exchanged. The Avengers had vetoed the idea of having a Secret Santa and everyone only getting one gift (this was mostly because Tony wanted everyone to know what a 'real' Christmas felt like). There were literally hundreds of gifts spread out under the massive tree. It was surreal for many of them because they had grown up with so little.

Everyone received very nice gifts, thanks to Tony throwing his money around ("Hey, if I can't spend on my family, what good is all my money?"). But Bucky's absolute favorite present was from Darcy. Darcy, who had knitted him fifteen different and unique pairs of wool, fuzzy socks. His feet would never be subjected to the cold again!

"Hey Darce, did you make these cuz you were tired of keeping my toes warm?"

"No, I made them because if anyone else had to keep you warm, they'd squish you so far into the couch, we'd never see you again!" This statement prompted booming laughter and many protests from Tony.

"I resent that Lewis! I unlike some people in this room am not fat, nor do I weigh two hundred pounds!"

"I weigh two hundred and fifty pounds, thank you very much." Steve retaliated by throwing a balled up piece of wrapping paper at Tony's head. This action resulted in an all-out paper war.

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Bucky adored his fuzzy socks. He never went anywhere without them. Even when the chilly weather shifted into spring, Bucky wore his socks. Even though his feet were no longer cold, Bucky would still shove them under Darcy when they sat on the sofa together, neither said anything about it, but both secretly loved it.

Bucky quickly discovered that if one was to shuffle their socked feet along carpeted floor, and then poke someone, that person would get a nice little electric shock. Bucky also discovered that his favorite victim was Steve. The first time Bucky did this, Steve screamed like a little girl. And the second time. And the third time. By the fourth time, he just back-handed Bucky. Bucky snickered and ran off.

Bucky's second favorite victim was Tony. Seeing as Tony had no training as an assassin, Bucky could easily sneak up on him, shock him on the back of his neck, and run off before Tony could even react. Surprisingly, Tony screamed almost as bad as Steve did, but Steve was much more fun to mess with.

Three weeks later, Bucky discovered that his left hand carried a significant amount of static completely by accident. He usually sticks to just using his human hand to shock people, but when he's bored, or Steve's done something really stupid, he uses the metal hand. Bucky figured he might as well get some use out of HYDRA's 'gift'.

Even though all the shocking was driving Steve nuts, he refused to take the socks away from Bucky. They made him happy and Steve wasn't going to change that. Darcy (who was the only one in the tower to never get shocked) was thrilled that Bucky liked the socks, and spent many long hours quietly knitting, sitting on Bucky's fuzzy feet.