"Asa!"

I turned instinctively, already knowing who to expect but nonetheless being surprised to see the two there. We had known each other for a couple of months at this point, and spent plenty of time in one another's company. They were good friends, and easy to be with. I saw that Bucky and Steve were walking swiftly to catch up with me, and I quickly stepped off to the side of the street before taking a moment to properly examine them. "Woah, what happened?" I demanded, startled as they slowed to stand next to me.

Steve was glaring at the ground, his blue eyes wide and still clouded with a distant anger. The left side of his face was swollen, a purple bruise sprouting from his cheekbone and his nose bleeding heavily. Everything about him seemed tense, from the way his jaw was set to the way his shoulders were hunched in an almost defensive way. Bucky, on the other hand, wore a vaguely annoyed expression, his hand clamped around the smaller boy's arm as if to prevent him from escaping. His lip and cheekbone were cut open, a smear of crimson on his right cheek, and his fists seemed bruised, but he looked in relatively better shape.

Steve opened his mouth to answer, his eyes like fire, but the other beat him to it. "We're fine. Steve here," he shot him a glare, "just can't stay out of trouble for more than five minutes."

"They started it," Steve grumbled, jerking his arm out of Bucky's grasp and hunching his shoulders, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Steve, literally every single one of them were twice your size," Bucky shot back, his voice stern but his eyes soft. He turned to me, sighing heavily. "He got in another fist fight. With four guys, no less. And would you like to tell her why?" He turned to Steve at that question, whose chest seemed to swell with defiant anger.

"They kept hollering at some girls!" He hissed, glaring at the ground. "Wouldn't leave them alone! So I told them to scram, and they wouldn't let up, and I punched the closest guy and things just… escalated from there."

"Where were you when all this happened?" I asked pointedly, turning to Bucky and jamming a finger at his chest.

"I was minding my own business, and have had the unfortunate habit of assuming most street fights involve this punk anymore," Bucky kicked at Steve's leg, who retorted by jamming his elbow into his side. I rolled my eyes.

"You two are actual children," I sighed, shaking my head. They both opened their mouths to argue, but I ignored them. "Don't even start. Let's just… get you two cleaned up, alright?" More grumbling from the two of them, half-hearted glares and slumped shoulders as they began to shuffle forward. I hooked arms with the both of them, forcing a bright smile on my face and an exaggerated skip to my step. "Look alive, gentlemen!"

"You're going the wrong way," Bucky sighed, clearly still irritated.

"Wrong," I shot back, growing more and more amused as my two companions shot each other a glance. "Oh, good to see you won't tear each other's throats out now." As if on cue, they threw a halfhearted glare at me. "We're going to my apartment. I happen to know the way."

About ten minutes later, we walked inside my own small apartment, myself tucking my hair behind my ear as I moved to get a cloth. Bucky let out a low whistle, glancing around.

"Why do you bother with our place? This is nice."

I smiled a bit, eyes darting around the room. I did like my apartment, even if it was small. There were large windows on the left wall, allowing sunlight to pool inside, a door leading to the bedroom and a wall dividing the living space from the kitchen. Steve plopped himself down on an armchair, eyebrows still low over his eyes, but giving a nod of agreement.

"I like your apartment," I admitted, shrugging crookedly. "It's cute."

Now, Steve cracked a smile. "Yep, sure is, I love our cute apartment!"

Bucky scowled. "Whatever."

I smirked, moving to sit in front of Steve. "Come here, let me see your face." He obliged, and I examined it. "Let's put some ice on that eye. And for the record," I leaned in, as if sharing a secret. "I think what you did was right. And you did hold up well, from the looks of it. But don't bite off more than you can chew, alright? Know when to step down."

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, accepting the damp washcloth I handed him and wiping gingerly at his nose.

"Where'd you learn to fight anyway?" I asked, leaning against the wall with my arms crossed.

"That jerk over there," Steve said, tilting his head towards Bucky, who was bending to stare out the window before responding.

"You're welcome, too, punk."

"In that case, I see why you took such a beating," I teased, and Steve let out a surprised laugh, the kind that scraped against the back of the throat in a sharp bark. Bucky on the other hand, turned to look at me, vaguely entertained but also a little defensive.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He asked, eyebrow cocked up. I shrugged.

"I could take you in a fight."

"Yeah, I'm sure you've gotten into plenty of fights, England," he laughed lightly, shaking his head.

"Not England," I shot back, still amused that he hung onto what little accent I might have had. "And you might be surprised."

"Oh?" A smile pulled up on his mouth, and Steve leaned forward in his seat. "Okay. Okay, then, how about you try to hit me."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow, shaking my head before pushing off the wall. "Fine. If you need to satisfy your ego so badly."

He stepped to the middle of the room, and I followed suit. He made a show of getting into stance, tilting his head at me as I held back a smile. "I'll go easy on you, alright, England?"

"Please don't, you'll embarrass yourself."

"I'm just sayin– Hnnfh!"

He stumbled back a step, hand clamped over his nose, where my palm had connected a split second before. Steve let out a solid laugh, and Bucky removed his hand to examine the blood smeared on it.

"Oh no, I'm sorry!" I clasped my hands over my mouth, genuinely guilty I had actually hurt him. I hadn't realized that no matter how solid he was, Bucky was much more fragile than some of my other opponents. Bucky just grinned, shock fading to an impressed shrug.

"Honestly caught me by surprise," he chuckled, wiping at his nose again. "I'll keep in mind never to underestimate you again, huh Steve?"

"Oh, I never did. That's all you," Steve smirked, looking far too pleased at what just happened.

"That's why I like him better," I laughed, grabbing at Bucky's chin to inspect his nose. He just smirked, head tilted down towards me and crimson smeared beneath his nose. "I don't think it's broken. I'm not exactly a doctor, but you'll survive. Both of you."

"Are you sure?" Bucky asked, widening his eyes with faux fear. "I think I might be bleeding out!"

"Oh, shut up, I didn't need to take you here at all."

The next few hours were admittedly pleasant, jokes and laughter interwoven between conversation until the sun began to set, whatever argument or tensions having long since dissipated. We continued having short sparring matches, throwing punches in slow motion and having the other block them and vice versa. It was nice, strangely familiar to the life I had in Asgard. At the end of the night, we all climbed to the roof of my building, a place that was impossible to get to unless you didn't mind breaking the rules, which none of us really did. So we sat on the edge of the rooftop, not daring to lean forward too far, and watched the city fall into night.

"Y'know, Ace," Bucky remarked, leaning back so his chin rested on his chest in order to look ahead. "I really have no clue why you agreed to talk with us. Back when we met."

I smiled a bit, glancing at him sideways. "Another nickname?"

"I'm serious!" He pressed, laughing lightly with his eyes fixed on the skyline ahead of us. My smile faded slightly, and I shrugged.

"I liked you guys. Still do."

To my surprise, Bucky's cheeks and ears began to flush, crimson tinging his skin. Steve, on the other hand, huffed out a laugh, shifting to cross his legs in front of him. "I like ya, too, Asa. Him on the other hand?" He pulled a face. "Meh."

"Oh, shut up, you both know you love me."

We laughed, still staring out at the city. "If you could go anywhere in the world," Bucky suddenly chimed in, something in his eyes distant. "Where'd you go?"

"Well that came out of nowhere," I teased, sitting up and resting my elbows in my knees.

"Well I'm curious," he defended himself, laughing lightly. "Shame on me for trying to learn more about you."

"Okay, okay." I hummed in thought, already knowing I had probably been to most of the stereotypical choices. Then, I shrugged. "Up there." I pointed up at the sky, where the stars shine down on us. Bucky looked surprised.

"Why?"

"Why not?" I asked, smiling as he rolled his eyes. "There's a lot out there. We're incredibly small in the eyes of the universe. I think that's pretty neat."

"That's terrifying," Steve countered, wrinkling his nose.

"No, I agree with Steve," Bucky said, and I threw my hands in the air, earning myself a laugh from my companions.

"Well where'd you go?"

"Probably Paris," Bucky admitted after some thought, sitting up in turn. "I think the food there would be good."

"Ireland." As the two of us turned to look at Steve, he shrugged. "It's where my parents were from."

"In my defense, I think my answer was much more interesting," I stated, smirking as they objected loudly.

"Well where are you even from, if not England?" Steve joked half-heartedly, though Bucky seemed to perk up.

"Alright, if you want a life story, I can give you one," I joked, sitting back once more. "Hi, my name's Asariel. Summers." Back when I first came to Earth, I realized I needed a last name. The first thing I thought of was something my father used to tell me as child, saying my hair was like the sun on a summer's day. I figured it was as good of a name as any. "I was adopted by my father, actually. And I grew up kind of in the middle of nowhere." I thought for a moment before smirking. "You could say in Norway."

"Ah ha!" Bucky exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air. "So you do have an accent!"

"I wouldn't say that! I spent far more time here than I did there." Bucky rolled his eyes, but motioned for me to continue. "I left when I was really young. And yes, I miss it, a lot. But I love it here."

"You were adopted?" Steve asked, sounding surprised. "I didn't know that."

"Well I don't really know who my biological parents are. My father is my real family anyway, I don't see it as something that sets me apart from anyone else," I shrugged.

"I know how that feels," Steve nodded, glancing over at Bucky, who gave a small smile in return. Then, he shivered slightly, pushing himself off the ground to stretch. "I'm going to head inside. Are we gonna crash on the couch or are you kicking us out?"

"The couch is open if you want it," I answered, glancing over my shoulder. "Just make sure the front door is locked, alright?"

"Got it," he said, swinging his leg around the clambering back down to my window.

Bucky and I sat in relative silence, a peaceful ambience buzzing in the background. "Thank you," he suddenly said, his voice soft as he glanced at me. I looked at him in return, eyebrows pinched together.

"For what?"

He sighed, eyes distant as he stared at the skyline, his hair falling into his eyes. "Steve. His life isn't exactly the smoothest. His health isn't the best, it's a big scare when it acts up. I don't think the doctors even expected him to survive into adulthood." He paused, and I felt something settle into the pit of my stomach. "The point is, he wants to prove himself. To prove he's worth something, I think. And most people don't like that. It's the reason he gets into so many fights, and that's on a good day. But you never even considered looking at him as less, not from the moment we met. So yeah, thank you."

"I didn't know about his health," I muttered, heart heavy. "That must be awful."

"Hate to say it, but you'll probably see it yourself if ya stick around," he chuckled, though his knuckles whitened as he folded his arms. "He's tough. And he likes you, a lot."

"I like him, too," I smiled. "I meant what I said, earlier."

"I have no doubt about that," he answered, looking at me with an earnest smile. "I'm going to head inside. It's late." He stood up, brushing off his pants before offering a hand to me. I took it, and he helped me to my feet. Then, he glanced up. "It is beautiful, as terrifying as it is."

I felt my mouth curve to a smile, looking up alongside him. Memories flew across my mind. "Well, I think all the best things are."