It was a normal Saturday morning. They had woken up, Bucky had tried to convince Steve to sleep in and Steve had refused. Bucky had sighed, getting up. Then they had gone out to do their usual run, which was accompanied by Sam. They had exclaimed "on your left/right" whenever they outran the Falcon. Bucky always did by the right, though as soon as Sam was left behind, he would run by Steve's left. He always was on Steve's left, due to the blonde's bad right ear before the serum. Old habits die hard. They had returned to their Brooklyn apartment, where they had taken a shower, together.

Then, grocery store. The same one their mothers used to go when they were children and would accompany them to help them with the bags.

"What's missing?" Steve asked, as he placed four jars of milk into the cart already almost full. Two supersoldier demanded quite a huge amount of food after all.

Bucky retrieved the piece of paper they had scribbled on the past few days from his pocket and raised the piece of paper they had scribbled on during the past couple days. "Chocolate, eggs, orange juice, and plums."

Steve scrunched his eyebrows. "We still got plums," he said, confused.

"Doesn't matter." Bucky shrugged and started rolling the cart to the fruits section.

Steve caught up with him, smiling and shaking his head at the same time.

"I'll get the eggs and orange juice then."

Bucky nodded. Although he didn't feel comfortable in public places and felt even worse if Steve wasn't with him, he knew Steve would be just down the corridor from him. Bucky couldn't help but keep glancing over to the blonde man while picking plums from the pile.

"Are you Bucky?"

Of course Bucky had trailed every soul around Steve, around the possible objects that could be used to hurt him and three escape routes to lead Steve to safety. Of course he cared about Steve and knew everything that happened around him in a radius of six feet. And of course he didn't notice the little girl who sneaked behind himself.

Bucky looked down and was faced a four-year-old girl. She wore a Captain America skirt, had a plush bear in her tiny arms and a smile on her face. She tried again. "Sir? Are you Bucky Barnes?"

It was actually incredible that no matter how well they tried to blend in, children always recognized them. Two jackets and a baseball cap, his long hair hiding his face and a leather glove on his metal hand, the little girl managed to spot him.

Bucky, tense as he could be, answered very quietly, "Yes."

The smile on the girl's face became ginormous, Bucky tried his best to return it. "You're my favorite superhero, you know."

Bucky almost took a step back, awestruck by her words. "Your favorite…" he couldn't get himself to say the word. The word didn't seem to match his persona. He was part of the Avengers now, yes, but to be called a -

"Superhero," she finished, beaming. "Here, look," she showed him the bear in her arms.

A Bucky Bear a bit modified. The ones he knew were from the Captain America comics that portrayed him as Steve's teenager sidekick – completely ignoring the fact that he older than Steve -, with the bright blue and red uniform and black mask. This one wore black clothing and his left arm was grey – to look like metal – with a red star on the shoulder. The black mask that covered the eyes was the same in both versions though.

"That's you," she explained, running her fingers on the bear's head softly. "I know you can't protect everyone all the time, but I have Lil' Bucky with me all the time. He keeps me safe."

Bucky cleared his throat, crouched on his knees and managed a small smile, willing his voice to remain steady despite how unsure of the situation he was. "I know he does," he said, trying to remember how to talk to a child. Memories of his younger siblings came to his mind. He hesitated before he opened his mouth again, but the girl didn't seem to mind. "I told him to protect you."

She gasped, her eyes wide. "My papa told me you did!" she claimed.

"Is he doing a good job?" he inquired, an eyebrow raised, trying to keep his voice steady. He felt like he would say the wrong thing anytime.

"He is!"

"Is he? That's good," he concealed, nodding and smiling a bit more. Bucky couldn't help but be worried about the girl. She reminded him of his sisters. She had approached him alone, but she was too young to actually be by herself inn a grocery store. "Talking about your father, where is he?"

"He's fighting a war," she continued, "He's a soldier like you." She looked at the bear again, petting between its ears softly. Then she beamed again. "He got me Lil' Bucky. My mother and my brother need protection, and Bucky and I will keep them safe!"

"I'm sure you will. Your mother and your brother, where are they?"

The girl looked panicked for a moment and Bucky quickly localized two staff members to help him find the girl's mother. That wasn't necessary though. The girl turned and her eyes quickly found them. She pointed at a woman with a little boy by her, "There they are!"

A boy came stumbling over to stand beside the girl. They were clearly twins. "This is the brother Bucky and I keep safe. Jefferson, say 'hello'."

"You're doing an amazing job," he promised her, coaxing a smile from her. "Hello, Jefferson."

The boy was quiet, his gaze focused on Bucky. He knew who he was, he knew what he did. He also knew who the Winter Soldier was. And he was scared. He clung to his sister's side, trying to vanish from sight.

Steve then turned to his boyfriend, about ten meters from him. Only then noticing he was crouched down by two children. Steve furrowed his eyebrows but his eyes shot open when he heard the boy's mumbled question.

"Will you harm us?"

The blond supersoldier's body came back to life upon seeing the shock and hurt in Bucky's face. Steve darted to them, but before he could actually reach them Bucky spoke.

"No," he said, "You're afraid of me?" Bucky quietly asked.

The boy nodded, burying his head even further in his sister's neck. Bucky tried not to remember if he had already encountered a child during his HYDRA years, if he had harmed them. He locked the Soldier's memories deep inside his mind at that moment.

"Is it the arm?" Bucky asked, unsure.

Again, the boy nodded.

"I won't hurt you," Bucky assured, voice steady but calm. He waited until the bo nodded to slowly took his jacket off, then did the same to the sweater, remaining in his Captain America t-shirt – a souvenir from their visit to the Smithsonian. He looked at the boy, who was looking at the arm, afraid and curious at the same time.

He reached with his right hand and detached the metal device from his body swiftly – thanks Wakandan doctors. "See? No harm. I'm unarmed."

The boy let out a giggle and separated a bit from his sister. A ghost of a smile appeared on Bucky's face. "Wanna hold it? For many reasons, Bucky wanted every member of HYDRA to suffer and die, wanted to make each and every single one of them see hell – and he would, but not now. But he was thankful for them making the arm as light as it was, so that the kid could hold it without struggle.

Steve, who took a couple of trembled steps toward the scene, observed the kid, whose eyes were glued to the metallic apparatus on his hands in sheer curiosity. He could hear it all, even if he couldn't make out the words by the lips.

"It's nice," the boy commented.

"I only use it for the good things," Bucky explained, "Except when I have to fight the bad guys. After all, they can't come and harm you, now can they?"

"So you protect us?" The boy's eyes shone as he looked at Bucky with admiration, smiling, showing all his teeth.

"I try my best," Bucky assured solemnly, for both them and himself.

The boy looked at the arm again, ran his fingers over the metal fingers and offered it back to the supersoldier. Bucky smiled politely and reattached his arm to his body.

"Thank you for protecting us," was all the boy said before jumping into Bucky's chest and wrapping his arms around his neck.

Bucky's eyes were huge.

He barely hugged people other than Steve – and Thor, who demanded a hug every time he saw Bucky - afraid he'd hurt them. How could he hug a – small, fragile - child?

Bucky concluded he didn't have a choice when the boy snuggled to him even tighter. In one of the most delicate movements Bucky performed in his entire life, he carefully wrapped his flesh arm around the boy's back. The girl nodded at him, encouraging him to actually hug her brother. She trusted Bucky with her life and Bucky thought she shouldn't.

He quickly banished the thought form his head: he was trying to get better, trying to be good again. And the only way to be good was to believe he emwas/em good. Steve said it and Bucky wanted to make him happy.

The supersoldier slowly, cautiously raised his metal arm, flexed it and touched the boy's back with his cool hand, running it up and down soothingly, slowly.

Steve observed the scene, still frozen, smiling, eyes burning with unshed tears. It was a beautiful scene to witness indeed.

The boy detached himself from Bucky after a minute or two, Bucky lost count, focusing solely in being gentle with the kid.

The girl grabbed the boy's hand, "C'mon. Mom's waiting for us," she said. Her brother started tugging at her arm, wanting to return to their mother.

"Thank you," the sister whispered, smiling. It was easier for Bucky to return it this time.

The twins ran back to their mother, who was watching the scene from afar. She was smiling.

Bucky glanced over his shoulder, confirming his suspicions that Steve was there, and slowly stood up, turning around.

His head was down, shoulders tense, clenched hands, his chin downwards protecting his throat and his flesh arm around his torso, holding the metal one. His voice was hesitant and so low that Steve wouldn't have heard if he wasn't standing right in front of him.

"Was that okay?"

Steve breathed a laugh, releasing some tension from his chest. He had forgotten how to breath while watching Bucky and the kids. "Did you seriously just ask me that?"

Bucky fought the urge to remain quiet and wait for his punishment as he had done for most of his life. He knew Steve would do that, even if he was indeed mad. But the laugh, the spark in his blue eyes… Bucky fought that maybe Steve wasn't.

Instead, he force himself to shrugged, still apprehensive of what Steve thought about his interaction toward the children.

Steve took a step closer to Bucky and his hands found the other man's shoulders, squeezing soothingly. His bright blue eyes showed nothing but love and pride.

"What you did was amazing, Buck. I couldn't have dealt with it better myself," Steve's voice was strong, certain, though low. They still didn't want to make a scene in a grocery store; most people hadn't recognized them after all. Steve squeezed Bucky's shoulders gently, not flinching when the metal one didn't move. Steve smiled warmly at Bucky, his eyes watery and his chest clenched with love towards the brunette in front of him.

"I'm so proud of you."

Bucky's smile was so pure and genuine that Steve felt his eyes becoming glassy, but this time, he didn't bother to cover it.

Steve pulled Bucky for a hug - the ex-assassin more relaxed now, since he knew he wouldn't smash a child, he most definitely wouldn't smash his supersoldier of a boyfriend. Bucky's arm went Steve's waist, while Steve had one around Bucky's neck and the other ran over his back. One was what connect the other to life and they intended to transmit the message through caring gestures and loving words.

If someone recognized them, they kept their distance.