Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Bucky! Go grab the freaking jar, come on, move it!"
The super soldier shook his head, smiling fondly, as he grabbed one of the glass mason jars, this one a pretty blue, and brought it over to his girlfriend.
"Here you go babe." He held open the lid, and Y/N pressed her cupped hands over the mouth of the jar, opening them slightly so the firefly she was holding could flutter inside. Bucky quickly screwed the lid on, checking quickly to make sure they had in fact poked holes in the top.
He then placed it next to the others, one blue, a red, a green, a yellow, and a pink one already filled with four or five fireflies each.
The yard was filled with them, in fact.

Y/N had decided to treat the boys to a little piece of her childhood, and took them out to the old lake house she used to camp at every summer. It was a simple cabin, nothing super fancy, but it was cozy and quite nice, frankly. They were only a few hundred yards from the beach, and there was an outdoor patio, complete with a little kitchen, eating area, and fireplace. The backyard was huge, and they loved having impromptu two-on-two basketball games on the court in the backyard.

Right now though, the sun had just gone down, and as the last few pink and purple streaks of color faded from the sky, the fireflies had come out, filling the air and surrounding them.
Bucky, Steve, and Tony had never really seen any, growing up in the city, so their encounters with the lightning bugs were brief, but Y/N was nuts about them.
She had insisted they collected a bunch of the glass jars, and had began gently catching them as soon as they appeared.

"Cup your hands gently around them. They're endangered, and they're too precious to harm anyway," she had informed them quickly, and her three boyfriends were far more than willing to oblige.
Their lives were hard, and moments like this were nice.

Tony was standing still, his hands circled around what Steve assumed was one of the little winged bugs. His eyes were wide, his lips slightly parted, and Steve could see just a faint flicker of light where his fingers were separated- just enough so Tony could see the glow without releasing the firefly quite yet.
Grabbing the camera all four had been toting around, he quickly snapped a picture of his wonder struck boyfriend- flash off- and admired the beauty of it for a moment, before setting it down and going to wrap his arms around the smaller male.
"Enjoying the fireflies?" He murmured softly into Tony's ear, and the inventor looked up at him, smirking.
"Of course. I was just wondering if I would be able to replicate the chemicals they use to glow."
"I'm sure you can," Steve responded, resting his chin on top of Tony's head.
After releasing the lightning bug, they both watched Y/N, who was happily flitting around, and Bucky, who was laughing as they both tried to catch the bugs, looking absolutely silly and beautiful.

After another hour or so, the stars had appeared, and all four were lying on their backs in the soft grass, while they took turns picking out constellations and just admiring the view.
Without much light pollution- the closest neighbor was miles away, and they had turned off all the lights inside and outside- the night sky as absolutely filled, and you could see the pretty colors of the Milky Way and a few planets and just billions of stars.
The mason jar- there was thirteen filled, each of a different shade of some color- were placed here and there around them, and Y/N sat up after a minute, reaching for an orange one, gently twisting the lid and letting the fireflies free. They flew out lazily, and Y/N smiled at them, the look of complete content and childish joy and absolute wonder made the other three wish this moment would never end.
She opened one jar, and then another, mumbling little unintelligible words as she did so, until there were only three left; a red, a blue, and a light gray one, the colors of the names on each of their bodies (Y/N's name was a caramel color, the boys referred to it as the warm color of well-made coffee).
She handed them out respectively, holding each of the jars in her hands for a moment before passing it over, as if blessing it with some of her magic.

"Open the lid, and make a wish. The lightning bugs carry it with them, and every time they glow, your wish becomes stronger." Y/N beamed, and Bucky leaned forward to kiss her gently, before pulling away to look down at the jar in his hand.
He gently twisted the lid open with his metal hand, eyes widening as the small group of fireflies flew out. Heeding Y/N's advice, he closed his eyes, mumbling a wish into the open air.
Once his crystalline blue eyes were once again gazing upon the scene around him, Bucky noticed one firefly had landed on one of his metal fingers.
Gently lifting it to eye level, the super soldier smiled, before blowing gently on the wings, and it fluttered away, joining the rest of its friends.

After Steve and Tony had made their own wishes, Steve pulled the others into a giant hug, which quickly turned into a dog pile. They laughed happily, huddled under the stars, talking about everything and nothing for the longest time as the fireflies flitted gently around them.