You find it by accident again.

A crinkled paper bag tucked inside the chessboard box, buried beneath the rook and a missing pawn. Inside? A handful of chocolate bars and three caramels wrapped in gold foil.

You glance toward the kitchen, where he’s standing at the counter, tying his hair back with quiet precision.

“Bucky,” you call. “You hiding sugar in the board games now?”

He doesn’t even look up. “No idea what you’re talkin’ about.”

You raise an eyebrow, shaking the bag so it rustles. “Really? Because the Checkmate Candy Cache says otherwise.”

That earns a slow grin the kind that starts in one corner of his mouth and makes him look about twenty years younger. “If you found the stash in the Monopoly box… no you didn’t.”

You laugh, walking over and dropping the bag beside him. “You realize you could just keep them in a cupboard like a normal person?”

He leans on the counter, crossing his arms the soft click of metal against wood punctuating the motion. “Normal’s overrated.”

“Why hide them at all?” you ask.

He shrugs. “Force of habit, I guess. Back then, stuff like this” He nods toward the chocolates. “wasn’t easy to come by. You didn’t share unless you really trusted someone.”

“So I’m lucky, huh?”

He smiles, small and sincere. “Lucky’s a word for it.”

You reach into the bag, unwrap a caramel, and hold it out. “Then share it.”

He takes it between his fingers metal brushing your palm and pops it into his mouth with a soft hum. “Still tastes like the good kind of trouble,” he says, voice low.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Yeah,” he admits, eyes glinting. “But at least I’m sweet about it.”

The apartment hums quiet again city outside, comfort inside and somewhere behind the bookshelf, another candy stash waits for you to find it.