If he was alive [SPOILERS]

Meeting the Avengers

Steve woke up early the next morning, going out for a run before preparing breakfast again. Today was crepes and fruit with custard sauce, and fruit punch. Bucky came in as Steve was finishing setting the table. "Morning, Steve."

"Morning, Bucky. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, actually. I didn't have one bad dream."

"That's great! See, I told you we would fix it!" Steve smiled at a still slightly sleepy Bucky and gestured for him to sit down. He brought over the custard and sat down. "They're crepes. You put stuff in and wrap them up. They're very good. Try them!"

"Do you always have breakfasts like this?"

"No, I don't. Why?"

Bucky pushed his plate away. "Steve, I appreciate it a lot, but I don't want to be someone that has to be doted on! I don't want you to waist your time on me!"

"Bucky..." Steve sighed. He stood up and walked around the table, Bucky's eyes following his every move. Steve sat down on the bench beside Bucky, close enough that their shoulders touched but far enough they weren't squished together. "Bucky, spending time with you, treating you, is NOT wasting my time. It's treating someone how they deserve to be treated! And nobody deserves some pampering more than you, Bucky. But also, I like making fancy breakfasts, but there's no real reason to do that for myself. Please let me do this, Bucky. I really want to, and you are not a pest what so ever. You are a pleasure in my house, and I hope that you will stay instead of getting your own place. I get really lonely all alone, and none of the Avengers really accept me enough for me to want to spend extra time with each other. Please stay?"

Bucky was silent for a while, before his face gave way to a smile and he nodded. "Thank you," Bucky whispered before handing Steve his plate from across the table and digging into his crepe, finishing three in record time. Steve smiled and finished his crepe before standing up.

"There's an Avengers meeting today, and I got permission for you to come with me if you want. Would you come?"

"If they don't accept you, there's even less of a chance of them accepting me."

"Please come, Bucky? I want someone there that likes me. Unless you don't like me, then..." Bucky laughed.

"I'll come, Steve. That way I can defend you if you need."

"What?! Bucky..." Steve trailed off, laughing. Together they packed up and jumped in Steve's car, heading for the Avengers base.

Once they got there, they took the elevator up to the meeting room. Almost no-one else was there, only Natasha. She looked at Steve and then Bucky, her eyes squinting in a bit of a glare as they rested on the brown-haired man. "I see you brought the Winter Soldier like you said you would," Natasha said, glaring at Steve. Bucky winced and stepped ever so slightly behind Steve.

"First of all, I took the opportunity to bring Bucky to our meeting like we agreed on, and secondly, the Winter Soldier was different. He can control his actions now, and even if you don't trust him, I do."

"How much do you trust him? Would you trust him with your life?"

"In a heartbeat." Steve glared at Natasha, and she got the message and stopped asking. Bucky and Steve sat down at the other end of the table, Bucky a little closer than he needed to be, but Steve understood. He only hoped that he wouldn't be the subject of the meeting.

A few minutes later everybody else came in, all taking a look at the end Steve and Bucky were sitting at and then going to the other end. Steve sighed and looked at Bucky. Bucky had his head down, and he seemed to just be thinking, but Steve could tell he was worried. "Bucky, if I didn't want to bring you with me I wouldn't have. If they give us a hard time, I'll stand strong for us, Bucky. 'Till the end of the line, right?" Bucky nodded his face changing ever so slightly to a small smile. "Don't worry, Buck. Even if nobody else is glad you're here, I am." Bucky nodded, and Tony Stark came in to start the meeting. Or Stark the meeting, as everybody else said, not in a good way. Bucky looked up and saw him, freezing in his seat. Steve noticed, but nobody else did. Steve quickly slipped his hand into Bucky's for a moment and gave it a comforting squeeze before slipping it out and turning his attention back to Tony.