A/N Thank you for reading and favouriting this story collection, it does mean a lot to me. Today's chapter happens sometime after Civil War. Do enjoy :)

It had been some weeks since Bucky had moved into the Tower. Most of the team members had welcomed him, albeit some more hesitatingly than others. The kid that always hung around Stark was almost reverent in the way he treated Bucky. It was weird but he reminded Bucky of Steve, sometimes. His willingness to sacrifice himself for others… He also made a point to always teach Bucky something new about the twenty-first century. Today he wanted to show him how to set up an Instagram account, although Bucky didn't understand why he should need that.

Since the kid was still in school and wouldn't be coming around for a few more hours, Bucky decided to go down to Tony's lab. In another life he had loved watching Howard Stark work on gimmicks and asking questions and sometimes he slunk down to watch Tony through the glass. They weren't outright violently towards each other but there was a certain guardedness. Not that Bucky blamed Tony. It had been the Winter Soldier who had killed Tony's parents, there was no way denying it. He could only hope they would work through it some day.

The lab was empty except for Tony working on one of his many projects, goggles on his face to protect his eyes. Even through the glass Bucky could hear the blasting music. Suddenly Tony looked up and directly towards Bucky was standing; probably his AI – FRIDAY, right? – had alerted him to Bucky's presence. Instead of going back to his work, Tony ripped the goggles from his face and marched towards the door of the lab to open it. "You do know how to use doors, right?"

"Yeah, I, uhm… I didn't know whether it would be okay for me to come in. Can I watch?" Whoever watched them now would never think that the squirming man with the metal arm, who had several inches on Tony, was the most infamous assassin of the world.

Tony raised an eyebrow at him. "You know something about nanotech? Laser-based weaponry?"

"No, not exactly. It's just… I like tech, okay? I spend my last day before shipping going to Stark Expo and watched a flying car crash." He smiled bashfully and shrugged. "I won't be in the way, I promise."

Tony watched him for a moment, then he nodded and stepped back inside the lab, motioning for Bucky to follow him. "FRI, turn the music down." Back at his table he pushed another chair beside his and sat in his chair. "I found the specs of that car some years ago. Howard did some miscalculations, but he got around to fixing it eventually. You should ask Phil to have a look at Lola. Howard build the first model and I updated it some time after the battle of New York."

"A flying car? For real?" Bucky's eyes were gleaming. "Do you have any photos? Does it spit fire?"

"Spit fire?" Tony laughed, a sound that Bucky hadn't heard of him yet. Not a real laugh, anyways. "Well, sort of. And some other cool things. I'm not sure if I have photos, though… FRI, can you do a sweep?"

"Sure thing, boss," the bodiless voice answered. Bucky flinched. He still wasn't used to that, though at least he didn't move to grab his gun anymore. Only a second later a bunch of pictures appeared on a nearby screen. All of them showed a red, sleek car, sometimes with a balding man behind the wheel or near it.

Bucky turned to inspect them more closely. "Awesome," he breathed. "Who is the man?"

Tony threw a quick glance over his shoulder before he focused back on his project. "Agent Phil Coulson. SHIELD agent. Died in the battle in New York, but came back. Was the handler of the assassin twins. That's Clint and Natasha by the way. After the battle he got his own special op team. You should have seen Natasha when she found out he hadn't really died. Never saw Phil or Fury that scared ever again."

"I can imagine." Bucky grinned at the genius. "What are you working on?"

"New suit." With a flick of his hand, Tony brought up some holographic specs. "I want to test around with some nano tech. Makes it better portable. I liked the suitcase, but that was heavy as hell. Calling them from somewhere either destroys a lot or takes too long. Or both. So, nano."

"What's nano tech?" Bucky moved back to the table and watched Tony work in concentration.

"Imagine them like the tiniest robots ever. Lots of them." They sat n silence until Tony spoke up again, his gaze fixed on the tools in his hands. "You and Howard… You were friends?"

Bucky also refused to look up. "I wouldn't say I really knew him. But yes, I would have considered him my friend. Still do." Finally, Bucky looked up, searching Tony's gaze. "I'm sorry for what the Soldier did to your parents. I'm sorry I didn't fight harder."

Tony acknowledged his words with a nod. Then: "I could take a look at your arm, if you want to. Maybe upgrade that a tad. I mean, I know T'Challa's sister is not exactly bad, but maybe there's something she missed."

Again it was silent for a while, until Bucky spoke up again. "Could you… Could you make it human? Like…" He sighed heavily. "The metal reminds me of him. And I…" He trailed off.

"Let me run some tests. I'm sure I can think of something. Maybe Bruce and Helen have some input, too. Biology is more their field."

Bucky found himself smiling softly. "Thank you. Really."

"No biggie. Just make sure Nat doesn't always drink my stuff."

The soft chuckle surprised both of them. "You know I can't promise that."

"Promise what?" Natasha asked.

Both men nearly jumped in their seats, but Tony was slightly quicker to answer. "Speak of the devil and she shall appear. Nat! What are you doing here?"

"Dropping off the kid. I found him wandering around."

Peter, the kid in question, rolled his eyes as he walked around her to enter the lab and dropped his backpack off somewhere near another table. "I might have turned left where I should have turned right. That place is a maze, Mr Stark!"

Nat cleared her throat with an amused smirk. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Oh, right! Sorry." Peter skipped back to Natasha and hugged her. "Thanks for getting me, mama pauk. See you later in the gym?"

"Only if you're not forgetting the time down here," Natasha answered and hugged him back. "Do remember to eat something, yes, rebenok pauk?" Then she turned around to leave, closing the door behind her.

Bucky could basically feel himself freeze as he heard the nicknames. What the hell?

"Barnes?" Tony poked him with a screwdriver. "You're still with us?"

Bucky shook his head. "Hey, uhm, kid? How old are you?" His voice was raspier than usual while he frantically tried to come up with a timeline.

Peter looked at him with equal party worry and confusion. "Uh, sixteen, Mr Sergeant Barnes, sir. Why do you ask?"

Sixteen years. When had he last met Natasha? "I… I need to go. Sorry," he mumbled and quickly moved out of the lab, barely hearing Tony yell after him to come back anytime because of his arm. "Nat? Nat!" Finally, he found her.

"James?" Natasha frowned at him. "Is everything okay? Did those two already blow up the lab?"

"No. No, that's not it. The kid, uhm, Peter… He said he's sixteen. I… I'm not sure when we last met and I wondered…" When the hell did he start to stammer while talking to a woman?

Natasha's frown deepened during his speech, until she shook her head. "Peter's not ours, if that's what you're afraid of."

Bucky could feel relief flood through him, but also a bit of wistfulness. "But you called him baby spider."

Now she fully rolled her eyes and hit him upside his head. "Because that's what he is, dumbo. A kid with the moniker of a spider. And in need of some guidance and training. I couldn't leave all of that to Stark, otherwise that kid would never learn some serious hand-to-hand combat."

Bucky cocked his head, risking another hit. "And why does he call you momma spider?"

"Because that's what happened." Natasha gave him a one-armed shrug and took his hand in hers. "I like that kid. And maybe I look out for him, here and in the field. But I do the same for Wanda. It's just that she's rather a sister than a daughter, now that I think of it."

Despite her explanation, Bucky felt the need to make sure. "So he is not your – our – natural child?"

Natasha smiled at him, but it did not fully reach her eyes. "No, he's not. I promise. So, what were you doing in the lab?"

"Just watching him work on something I barely understand," Bucky answered and followed Natasha down the corridors. "I did the same when I met his father at the front. It interests me. All that stuff people think of to build… It's awesome."

"You're such a nerd," Natasha said but sounded more affectionately. "Maybe you could think of something that especially interests you and we can see whether there's a museum or something we could visit."

Bucky carefully squeezed his hand. "That would be great. Isn't there a Stark Expo sometime soon?"

"There is, yes. I'm not a fan of those but since I'm not babysitting Tony this time we could go if you want to."

Bucky brought her hand up to his lips. "Well, last time I went to an Expo I was shipped off to Europe the next day. So I wouldn't mind a change to that."

A/N I'm not yet sure what exactly the next chapter will be about. I do have some ideas, but if you think you have a really nice one, you can absolutely write me and I'll see whether I can do it justice.