A/N: I don't own Disney or any of their creations/purchases/secret backroom dealings.
The first time Steve and Tony saw each other again, they both burst into tears, which was really better than anyone had expected it to go.
Tony apologized for trying to kill Bucky, because, "The irony of believing that seventy years of brainwashing didn't count as extenuating circumstances after about seven minutes of Zimo's manipulation drove me to murder was lost on me for way too long. I may have to turn in my genius badge."
"Well, you still have billionaire playboy philanthropist."
"Pretty much just billionaire philanthropist these days."
"That's right," said Steve. "Congratulations on your engagement."
"Thanks."
Steve apologized for not telling Tony about his parents death, because, "The irony of thinking I was protecting someone by lying to them after Shield tried to ease me into the 21st century with underwire bras was lost on me until, like, right now."
Then neither of them talked for a long time, until Tony said, "Peter was- is pretty much a son to me."
"I bet you're a good dad."
Tony raised an eyebrow, the most either of them had moved in over an hour. "I thought you'd met Howard."
"I didn't say Howard was a good dad. I said you are."
Tony started crying again, and he was still wearing the suit, so Steve worried about rust.
"Bucky is…" Steve trailed off.
His best friend.
His other half.
The real reason he became Captain America.
The real reason he crashed the plane.
Steve didn't want to die alone, and he knew he wouldn't last the winter by himself, so he went to war to die with Bucky, and after the serum he thought maybe they would both survive, but when Bucky died, Steve just figured it was back to Plan A.
"Everything."
"You always have to one up me, don't you?" said Tony, but he was laughing, and it was only slightly hysterical.
For the next few weeks, everyone was on low-key suicide watch for everyone else. No one talked much, because they didn't know what tense to use. No one made plans, because they didn't want to admit the only plans they had left to make were funeral. They didn't even have bodies to bury. Bucky's parents had buried an empty casket after the first time he-
"Nope," said Steve.
It was morning. The Avengers that weren't still pretending to sleep were picking at their breakfast.
"Nope?" asked Tony.
"I thought Bucky was dead once before, and I'm not making the same mistake again. I'm going to-"
Steve didn't get a chance to say what he was going to do, which was probably a good thing, since when he improvised, things tended to crash.
Fury appeared at the breakfast table.
He looked… good. Calmer than Steve had ever seen him, and not that creepy calm that Fury had probably learned from Natasha which just made it seem they were in no way ruffled by the prospect of murdering you. He looked genuinely well-rested. Steve had forgotten what that looked like.
Everyone started to talk at once. Fury held up a hand for silence. Tony high-fived it in his excitement.
"You will give me bacon, and then I will talk," said Fury. "Fuck antioxidants."
They gave him bacon, and then he talked. With his mouth full, but no one felt like pointing that out, although they kept looking at Steve like they expected him to.
"We were transported to the Soul Realm. There was a guard. Ugly mothefucker. He said we could pass and return to earth, but only if we told him our true names. True names have power. Apparently, the Soul Realm is a lot like on the internet. Problem was, none of us could remember jack shit, including out names."
Steve had a minor flashback. When he was finished, he said, "Then how did you get back?"
"Barnes."
Steve sat up. He'd forgotten how short everyone was when he didn't slouch. "You saw him? Is he okay? Why isn't he-"
Fury held up his hand again.
"He remembered his name first. Guess he has some practice. But the guard wouldn't accept 'Bucky,' or 'James Buchanan Barnes.' He kept insisting it had to be a 'true name.' Barnes didn't look happy about it, but eventually he tried 'The Asset.' Guard wouldn't accept that either. Nor 'Winter Soldier,' nor 'White Wolf.' It took him a while, but he got there eventually."
"What-" Steve silenced himself before Fury could .
"Social Security Numbers."
Tony paled. "I would have been so fucked."
"For T'Challa it was his National Identification Number. Every country has an equivalent of Social Security Numbers. They're modern 'true names.' They're unique, and if someone else gets ahold of yours, they can fuck your shit right up."
"It took a few days, but Barnes remembered his."
"055-09-4237," Steve said automatically.
"Aw," said Pepper, for some reason.
"Then where is he?" asked Steve.
"Helping everyone else remember theirs. He taught us all these tricks to recover our memories. Self-hypnosis and auto-suggestion. He had us do yoga to increase GABA. He was very concerned that we weren't getting enough antioxidants because we didn't eat in the Soul Realm." Fury grabbed some more bacon, as if he had just remembered this. "We meditated. I achieved inner peace."
"Really?" asked Natasha, and he shrugged.
"Well, I lived with Stephen Strange for five weeks without strangling him, so same thing."
"That guy, right?" said Tony. "So he's-"
"Fine. Everyone's fine."
"Peter?" Tony asked, somewhat more tentatively.
"You're a genius. What part of 'everyone' is hard for you to grasp?"
"I turned in my badge," said Tony. He sounded happy. Steve couldn't have forgotten what that was like, because had never heard it before.
Maria came back next, followed by T'Challa, Sam, Wanda, Stephen, and Peter. There were news reports of other people, half the world, popping back into place. Not necessarily where they left, but where they belonged.
Bucky came back last. Five weeks after everyone had returned, at least according to the official counts. Bucky wasn't on any of their lists. His Social Security Number had been decommissioned in 1944. He wasn't on Facebook or Twitter, which were used for the official census after the world's governments realized how woefully unprepared they were to lose half their populations.
Only Steve was counting on him.
When Bucky appeared, Steve was engaged in his new favorite hobby of staring blankly at a wall. He was pretending to watch Toy Story with the rest of the Avengers, but it wasn't very convincing, based on Natasha's gentle reminder that, "The TV is over there, Steve."
Bucky appeared on the floor in front of the couch, which Steve threw himself off of harder than he'd ever thrown himself out of an airplane.
Tony had put on a DVD "to make the pensioners more comfortable," even though Steve was the only pensioner, and he had no idea what a DVD was. It had an FBI warning, which alarmed Steve since he was still on their Ten Most Wanted List. It also commercials you couldn't skip. One suggested that the Avengers would not steal a car. About half of them responded aloud with some variation, "You don't know my life."
The next commercial was for the Army. Steve did not care for one second that he was blocking the screen with his giant, shaking, shoulders, which would have been ironic if he had thought about it, but all he could think was, Bucky.
Steve hugged him as tight as he could without breaking anything. Bucky hugged Steve back and kissed the top of his head the way he used to do when Steve was sick, and not even Tony made fun of them. Pepper was saying, "Aw," again, but real quiet, like she didn't want to disturb them.
"Jesus Christ, that was some Rumpleforeskin Tomfuckery," said Bucky and Steve felt bad for laughing, because the army had given Bucky a mouth, but Hydra had made him creative.
"If you ever fucking die on me again Bucky, I swear to fucking god, I'll kill you myself, and I know how to bring people back from the dead now, so don't think I'm fucking bluffing."
"Language," said Tony.
Well, it was nice while it lasted.
"Gee whiz, Steve," said Bucky. "Now people are gonna know that Captain America was in the army."
"What took you so long?" asked Steve.
"Guard was pissed all those many people busted out. Apparently that hasn't happened before. He said I couldn't leave unless I guessed his true name too. I thought I was fucked, but after about a month I realized I'd met him before. Hydra tried real hard to scrub it out of my brainpan. Mostly because they were embarrassed, I think. They hadn't tried to summon a demon since '44, and it didn't go so well back then either. Also, his name is Dhul-Qarnayn, which is really hard to remember for a white guy to remember, even without the memory problems."
"Wait," said Sam, who suddenly looked more like a white guy than Steve would have thought possible. "Nazis tried to summon a demon?"
"Nah," Bucky waived his metal hand. "Nazis did summon a demon, but he joined the Allies. Bit of a black spot in their history. Nobody talks about it at the Hydra Trash Parties."
"Hydra… Trash Parties?" he asked.
"Oh, that's what I call them. They just call them parties."
"Do I wanna'-"
"Nope."
"Okay," said Sam. "Wow."
"I know, right?" Bucky did "mind blown" gesture, which Steve also felt bad for laughing at. "So wait. You don't know Hellboy? I thought you guys all knew each other?"
"You thought who all knew each other?" asked Sam.
"Superheroes."
"Oh."
"You know, we should call him," said Bucky. "I mean, job's not over. We still have to figure out how to fuck Thanos where none of his suns shine, and I wouldn't mind seein' the Infinity Gauntlet go up against The Right Hand of Doom."
On the TV, a song had started playing.
Some other folks might be a little bit smarter than I am
Bigger and stronger too, maybe
But none of them will ever love you the way I do
It's me and you, boy
And as the years go by
Our friendship will never die
You're gonna see, it's our destiny
You've got a friend in me
Steve didn't know what his face was doing, but he didn't want anyone else to see it, so he hid it in Bucky's neck.
"You gotta' say it, Cap," said Tony, from the beanbag. His arms were slung around Peter on one side and Pepper on the other. She was still aweing quietly.
Steve's face was still hidden in Bucky's neck, but he said, if somewhat muffled, "Avengers, Guardians, sorcerers, Dora Milaje, demon Allies, pensioners, and everyone else with a low-key death wish, assemble."
The momentousness of the occasion was ruined slightly when Bucky kissed the top of his head again.