It was their anniversary. Of… something. Even Darcy and Bucky didn't know what they were supposed to be celebrating, but Stark insisted on the date, and rented out an entire jazz bar for the night for them. All the Avengers, their plus ones and friends, and the few trusted remaining members of Shield were there, mingling, drinking, and dancing. And in one case, stewing.

Steve took a pull from his beer, and watched Bucky twirl a giggling Darcy around the dance floor. It was almost a step back in time. Pepper, Nat, and Darcy had all dressed up in vintage '40's dresses, makeup and hair done flawlessly. The image he's seeing could have been from any number of double dates he and Bucky had gone on back before shipping out.

He'd never seen Bucky look so happy, though. He watched as Buck's metal hand spun Darcy back into his arms, immediately dropping his hands to her hips and his forehead down to press against hers. She smiled up at him while she twined her arms around his neck.

"And you say you're not brooding," Sam drawled as he came up next to Cap. "That line you got between your eyes is going to be permanent if you keep it there twenty four seven for too much longer."

"I'm trying, Sam, it's just…" Steve sighed. "I'm glad they worked things out, I honest to God am. But I miss them. And I don't know what to do to fix it."

"Doing SOMETHING might help. You know, anything? Nope," he held up a hand. "Japan doesn't count."

"I thought maybe she'd start trusting that I'd be there for her if I was, you know, there for her."

"It doesn't count, man. You may have been tailing her and Pepper in Japan, but she doesn't KNOW that, cause you never said anything. She still thinks you were the first responder to the scene because you were closest on a mission. She doesn't know you were looking out for her. What with the NOT SAYING ANYTHING."

"I know. I do know that, Sam. But, I didn't want to get in the way, at first, and now… it's just been too long. I don't know where to start."

"You ever think they might be missing you too? Maybe they don't know how to fix things either?"

"But they fixed things with each other. Why-?"

"They both tried their damnedest, Steve. You haven't. You've done a few sneaky things you hoped they'd catch on to, but you haven't actually apologized, or bet against them in video games, or challenged them to cooking tournaments the way you used to. Maybe they aren't the ones that can't get past what you did."

Steve buries his face in Sams neck. "I wish it were that simple."

Same rolls his eyes as he wraps his arms around his boyfriend. "It CAN be, genius. Just make a plan of attack, and DO it."

Across the dance floor, Bucky is trying to restrain Darcy. "Dude, for real. I am WAY done with this. Let Sam get him wasted, and I'm drunk dying his hair in Iron Man colors."

"Darcy, baby, that's not how we need to solve this problem."

"Really? He isn't doing a damn thing to fix it, and I miss pancake mornings. Pancakes, James! Of which I have had NONE, since you two got to being all stupid."

"Steve feels really bad about what he did, but he has to fix it. Without you stomping over and demanding hugs and breakfast. I miss him too, honey."

She immediately deflates. "I know you do. It just isn't fair. Why is he being so freaking stubborn?"

It's a minute before he answers, curling her into his chest and resting his chin on her head. "He was always like this. Even when he was 5'4" and 95 pounds soaking wet. If he got it in his head that he was right, he'd never back down. Problem is, he knows he was wrong, and he doesn't know how to deal with it."

"What if-"

"No."

"But-"

"You can't keep having the bots throw things at his head."

"But something might jog the sense back in."

"You made scones today, didn't you?"

"… yes."

"No more assaulting him with baked goods. He'll figure something out. Punk better, anyway."

The next day, Steve woke up to a post it pinned to his wall by an arrow. The writing was Bucky's.

"Fix it fast, jack ass."

He pulled the arrow out of the wall, note still attached. Then he made the first of several calls he'd been putting off.

"Pepper? I know I'm not your favorite person right now, but I need an opinion. Okay, I don't think that much swearing was needed, but thanks for agreeing to help."

"Dr Banner, it's Steve. No, please don't go green, I think you'll like what I'm about to say."

"Dr Foster? Can we meet for coffee? There's something I'd like to talk to you about."

His major plan in motion, he started with the smaller battles. Like, walking in on game night, sitting to Darcy's right, and taking a controller up.

"Ready for a challenge?"

"Like you'd be one, bio-tch. Be prepared to get OWNED."

They race for a couple of tracks, before Nat and Jane steal the controls for an epic science/assassin battle.

"What the hell was that? You've never won a race in… well, anything, ever."

"No, I never have. But I wanted to give you this." He pushes a planner into her hands.

"What the hell, dude?" she asks as she skims. "Is this… did you color code how you plan on taking down Hydra bases?"

Steve's ears turn red. "Maybe. So. You know. You'd know where I was. And that I wasn't, just, dropping out of contact."

"You… You are so," she starts, before throwing her arms around his shoulders. "You are the stupidest person I know, okay?"

There are tears soaking into his shirt, and he can only hold her and hope he hasn't made a giant mess of things.

"I know, I screwed things up, badly. I'm trying to make them better. I miss you, and Bucky. I just want you to be happy."

"We are happy, stupid. But we can't be really, really happy without you, dork. We miss you, SO much. James doesn't get his 'before the war stories', and I don't get my Cap Shield spins, and we don't get mornings with you being sleepy. Your bed head is legend."

She pulls away and wipes at her eyes. "This, this is a start, Cap. But I can't just… I can't-"

"I know, Darce. But I'm trying. And I'm gonna keep trying until you believe me. Okay?" he asks, hopefully.

"You are SUCH a doofus," she says before she smacks him in the chest, thumping her head back down on his shoulder. "You gotta make it up to James, too. He misses you."

"I miss him too. Both of you. I'm going to make things right, Darce, I promise."

Darcy sort of, kind of, regrets that promise a few days later. Her phone gets a text at 2am, which she ignores. Jane and Science! are not dragging her away from her super snuggles with a passed out Barnes. The chiming at her door three minutes later is the definition of lame.

In the dictionary, there's a picture of it.

She stumbles to the door, managing to pull on her Hulk bathrobe.

"Seriously, Steve, what the hell?"

He's in full Cap regalia, shield, cowl, and frowny face. "Falcon, Iron Man, and I are being called out, no word on how long. I'll let you know when I do."

"For reals, man? I had to get up this early for a SitRep?"

She finishes rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and looks up at him. "Oh. OH. You're… okay. Get back safe, dumb ass, I'll have Jarvis reporting in."

He looks at her for another moment, and shrugs her into a hug. "Take care of you."

"You too, jerk. Leave the stupid with me."

He nods, and takes off to the elevator, where Falcon is waiting. He exchanges a look with her, and the doors close to take them to the roof.

A metal arm comes around her waist, and Bucky's chin lands on her right shoulder. "What was that?"

"That was Steve giving me a field report. And letting us know he wasn't just going to disappear."

"He's planning something."

"He's planning lots of somethings. The question is really, are they going to be good somethings, or is he getting stuck in his head again."

"Sam seems to approve."

"Sam's also tapping that, so he's biased. On our side, but biased."

"What was that about leaving the stupid with you?"

"Are you wearing pants?"

"…no."

"It's, like, 65 degrees in here. He left the stupid with me."

"I have a gorgeous girlfriend wearing nothing but a Hulk bathrobe, and *I'm* the stupid one for being naked?"

"Fair point."

Steve's assignment takes ten days, and it's another three before he sees either of his friends again. To be fair, two of those days were spent in his apartment with Sam. But he wasn't expecting to hit the communal kitchen of Stark Tower at one in the morning and see Darcy cooking.

He hesitates in the doorway for a moment, before trotting into the kitchen. "Need any help?"

"You any good at wilting spinach?"

"I… don't know? What's it for?" he asks, quietly.

"I'm making breakfast for idiots that won't stop to eat until it's convenient. Egg, spinach, bacon, cheesy, baked… things are good. They last a few days in the fridge, and can be eaten cold."

The two work together for a while, adding other foods, and working out various preferences until they have a dozen each for their friends. Thor isn't picky, and neither is Tony, but the rest are all rather persnickety with their foods.

Once the cooking is done, Darcy turns to the bar, grabs a bottle of whiskey and two glasses, and raises an eyebrow. "Wanna hit the balcony, Cap?"

Several toasts later, where he notices he's drinking a glass each while she sips at hers, he asks, "Why up so late, Darce?"

"We were both having nightmares. It's easier for him when I'm not there, and it's easier for me to go cook something."

"You didn't have nightmares in the apartment."

The look he gets is more a wince than anything. "Yeah, we did, Steve. That's how we handled them. I'd get up and bake something, or he'd go sleep on the couch. That why we'd end up sleeping apart in the house sometimes."

"Fuck, Darcy," he rubs his eyes with the palms of his hands. "How did I miss that?"

A punch to his shoulder dislodges him enough that she can pull his head down to her shoulder. "You wanted the best, man. You wanted everything to be okay. And it is, as much as it can be. Guess what?"

"What?" he mumbles into her collar.

"Your not dead best friend is dating your totally alive best friend. And they're really happy. So stop being so fucking angst ridden, dude. We're all working on things. James and I are okay. We're better than, we're freaking awesome. And you and us? Getting there. So be a happy bunny, jerk face."

"I'm trying. I really am. But things aren't the same."

Darcy sighs. "They're never going to be the same, man. We're… Fuck, dude, we're growing up. How old were you when you went in the ice? Twenty six, twenty seven? Same age I am now? We're figuring our stuff out, in really, REALLY incredible odds. I think we're doing okay."

"I messed up, Darce-"

"We're still figuring things out, Steve. You and James are adjusting to being in the future, and also the whole 'super soldier that's lost years of their lives' thing. I know that. I think you expect too much out of yourself."

She tucks her legs under herself, and leans back against the balcony wall. "We were doing well in the apartment. The three of us."
He nods, and opens his mouth to agree.

"But we weren't moving forward. Not all of us. I got a job in the tower, I made friends with everyone, evolved. So did Bucky. He at least made friends with Jarvis and Tony and Bruce. Enough that the Hulk got mad at him when he upset me.

"You didn't, though, Steve. You didn't really make new friends, and you bailed the first chance you got. Maybe you should think about that."

They're both quiet for a long time. "What do you think I should do, Darce?"

She takes a long swig of her drink, stands, and makes her way to the door. "Stay here."

It takes almost fifteen minutes for her to come back, but she's shouldering a pretty heavy bag, and trying to be quiet, so it's understandable. She crouches next to him to set it down, and then drops to the floor to help him unpack.

"This was supposed to be a birthday present, but that's like, three months away, so," she babbles as she starts to pull out art supplies.

There are sketch books, pencils, charcoals, various inks, anything an artist could want. Steve is speechless.

"We have some canvases and larger media on our floor, as well as water colors and oils and stuff. Bucky said when you could afford to, you went to art school, so we figured, we'd do what we could, since we have space and Stark funding now. So… Steve?"

He's staring, and not moving, and it's making her nervous. "Shit, did I just break Captain America? There has to be a reboot button for that somewhere, where- ack!"

Her squeak is doubled as Steve not only sweeps her up, but sticks his chilly nose in her neck and hugs her close. She mumbles a bit about safe zones, before he deposits her right next to the edge of the tower, demands that she not move, and starts to sketch the oncoming sunrise.

Three hours later, the sun is only mid-way on the horizon, most of the food in the fridge has been devoured, and Cap's first 21st century piece is on its way to being immortalized on Starks mantel. It may be nothing more than a shady figure sitting in front of a sunrise, but means more than that to all of them.

She's arguing the point with Pepper and Jarvis when Bucky turns up, takes one looks at Steve, and drags him out of the room.
When they return, Steve looks smug, and Bucky looks stunned. "Umm."

He cuts his eyes to Pepper. She immediately calls an Assembly, with a SI lockdown. Within minutes, all the Avengers, friends, and family, are in the room.

"What the FUCK, Pep, it's like, 5 in the morning?" Stark snarks.

"Shut up, Tony. There's a thing."

"Why didn't I know about the thing?"

"Cause you don't shut up, so do it NOW."

Even Tony knows when to obey the Pepper.

No one really knows what's going on, until Bucky coughs, and turns to Darcy. "So… I wanted to do this… less like this. But apparently, Steve and Pepper and Bruce and Jane did a thing-"

He gets poked by three out of the four listed, so he soldiers on. "So, it goes like this. I don't kind of love you, Darcy. I love you more than I thought I could love a person. And I don't like being without you. Not ever. So. I already promised that I was gonna stick on you like glue. You wanna do the same with me?"

He drops to a knee, and offers up the ring that's been clutched in his hand since he went to talk to Steve.

What he doesn't expect is for her to drop to her knees right in front of him, and take his metal wrist in her hand to inspect the ring. "James Barnes, is that your mother's diamond?"

"Yeah," he says as he ducks his head. "Becca left it to me as man of the house."

"..and the metal-"

"It's vibranium . Banner helped shave it off Steve's shield."

"Baby, if this wasn't your idea-"

"It wasn't."

She starts to pull back.

"I wanted to. I wanted to ask, but, I'm so messed up, and I have so little to offer everything you give me. And then Steve had this, and it was so perfect. I want it to be perfect for you.

"And it's everything I could think of. Ma's diamond, the perfect metal, and the writing, did you see that?"

He turns the ring, and the writing isn't legible. "It's coordinates. Where we are in the universe. So when Jane figures out the Bifrost, we can always see each other.

"I didn't get everything right for us, but Stevie did. So, I, mpfh,"he ends, as his arms end up being filled with Darcy.

There's still a static in the room when they pull apart. "James Barnes. Are you proposing to me?"

"Thought that was clear."

"Not really. It was kind of half assed, and I DO have a Hulk on my side."

Banner pipes up from the other side of the room, looking nice and pink. "She's not wrong. There was no actual question there, Barnes."

"You're right," he says, standing up, and helping Darcy up as well. "We'll be back. Enjoy the breakfast."

"Where're we going?" Darcy asks, happy to follow along.

"Where it started."

They stop on Floor 86, and he pulls her into her suite on the floor. She hasn't been there in a while, everything seems the same. Including the couch.

Bucky tugs her down onto the couch with him. She wiggles a bit, until she's more comfortable. Damn, she'd forgotten how pokey it was.

"You took care of me here."

She stills. "I did. And I will. I'm always going to look after you and Steve. Here, or in our rooms, or wherever. That isn't a problem."

"You trust me."

"I do," she states. There is no hesitation here, no question.

"I could hurt you."

"Yes."

"You love me."

"Always."

"But-"

"Are you scared of me, or you here, James?"

"I've done so many-"

"Shut up."

"Dar-"

"James Buchannan Barnes."

"Darce, you shouldn't-"

"Wanna marry me? Cause I love you something awful, and it seems like our friends, and interns, and pets, and some AI's want us to. And I don't want to make Dumm-E unhappy, and-"

She gets muffled with a kiss, and a few moments later she gets a proper stumbled question that ends up with her ring where it needs to be.

Jarvis has to wait to make the announcement until they get off the elevator, but getting the crew together was worth it for the celebratory brunch.

The framed picture they got from Steve later of the two of them, heads bent together, hands twined, was the best gift they could have imagined.