Steve wakes up to a giggle. He opens his eyes and looks down at the end of the bed, where Wanda and Peter have lifted the blanket, revealed his bare feet and are painting his toenails.

"I don't remember giving consent to this." He says with a sleepy grumble.

"I gave consent for you." Comes Bucky's voice. Steve glances over to find Bucky sitting cross legged on the couch, a book in one hand and a cup in the other.

Steve blinks sleepily as the moonlight reflects off of Bucky's exposed metal arm. He's wearing a short sleeve. He wants to be annoyed. But he can't seem to be. He looks back at the two at hand end who have frozen their actions and are staring at him with slightly guilty but mostly mischievous looks.

"What colors did you pick?"

Wanda smiles, "I went classic, Blue on your big toe, and red and white alternating." Steve focuses on his right foot and laughs at the colors. He tires to wiggle his toes. No such luck.

"And you, Queens?"

"I—" he blushes, "I chose Red, Blue, and white… but with black spider web designs."

"Well, no one can say now that I'm not hip."

He smiles, and they laugh. "Wake me when you're done." He mumbles sleepily, falling back against his pillow.

—-

When he wakes up, his fingernails match. Except both of his thumbnails are silver with a tiny red star.

He narrows his eyes at Bucky who just whistles and ignores him.

—

He waits until it's just Tony and him in the room before he brings it up.

"Did Peter ask you anything?" He tests, unsure if it's a broach in the kids privacy.

"That kid has a thousand questions a day. You're gunna have to be more specific."

"About his… healing factor?"

Tony's eyes are confused and there's a pucker to his brow. "Noooo…. Should he have?"

Steve sighs and gives a brief summary of the discussion they had. Tony's face goes pale and then furrows by the end. "No way, nuh-uh, I don't think it's the same. His growth and aging have been—-" he pauses, his eyes flash up to Steve's who winces. "No."

"I hope not." Steve says quietly, "for his sake."

Tony's out the door and Steve knows he's heading to the lab. Something selfish passes through his mind. He shoves that deep down and buries it smiling as Natasha walks in with Clint.

—

"Thought you'd want something to do with your hands." She says, handing over his sketch pad and his bag of pencils.

"Tasha."

"Steve."

"Just admit you like seeing me draw."

"I like seeing you draw."

Her blunt and quick response throws him for a second. "Oh."

She grins smugly at him and gestures to the pad. He doesn't even hesitate before flipping it open to a blank page.

—-

"NO WAY!"

Steve smiles at the kid's reaction.

"No way, no way, no way!" He's holding the sketch pad tightly in his hands and his eyes are wide, "Captain America drew me."

"Actually that was Steve Rogers." Bucky says firmly. "Steve Rogers had the talent long before the serum."

Steve's eyes flit to Bucky's, whose eyes are on his palm as he cleans out the grooves in his arm. His eyes prick, and he has to hold them open wide to try to hold back the sudden rush of emotion at that statement. He blinks rapidly, trying to dispel the moisture. He finally swallows thickly, getting rid of the knot and taking a deep breath.

"Yeah, your gear is fun to draw." He says, watching as Peter flips between the two pictures of Spider-Man in action.

"You should tweet these." Peter says, suddenly serious. Then his face flushes, "not these, I mean, you could, I don't mean just these— I mean all your stuff. Well, obviously not all your stuff, just the stuff you want. People would kill to see your drawings! I mean— Not kill. I don't mean kill, I mean—"

"Peter." Steve cuts him off.

The kid scrunches his nose, covering his face with the sketch pad. "Sorry," he says miserably, "can't help it."

"I know the feeling." Steve says with a laugh. "You really think people would want to see?"

Peter is pulling out his phone in an instant. "Yes! Anything that you do, people want to see it!"

Steve groans and puts a hand over his eyes. "I can't fathom why."

A Q-tip zaps him on the forearm and he looks at Bucky, who is frowning at him. "You're Captain America. I bet if your artwork had been kept, it would be worth a lot today."

"Why?"

"Because you drew it."

"SO? I draw a lot of things."

Bucky's eyes narrow at him. "You're dumb as rocks."

Steve scoffs, "I take offense to that statement."

"Good. I meant it to offend you!"

"Jerk."

"Punk."

Steve narrows his eyes as Bucky dutifully ignores him.

Then an idea blossoms. A beautiful, sinister, possibly fatal for him idea.

"Hey Bucky?"

"Yeah?"

"WOuld you mind getting me some breakfast?"

"It's 3:30p.m."

"And your point is?"

Bucky narrows his eyes at him. It's unusual for Steve to ask for anything. And Steve can see Bucky warring in his mind whether to ask why or not. But eventually he sighs and stands. "Sweet or Savory?"

"Both."

The eye-roll that is directed at him is met with a cheery smile.

"Fine."

"Thank you!" He calls as Bucky exits the room. Then he immediately turns to the kid. They have very little time. "Peter."

"Yeah?"

"Can you help me post pictures to Twitter?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I can!"

"Good." Steve leans over and grabs his phone. "I have a good one in here." He flips to the one he wants. A picture of Bucky sitting at a large window in the common room, the sun rising behind him, wrapped in a blanket and a cup of coffee held in his metal arm. He looks sleepy and cozy and Steve had laughed and laughed when he'd found him like that at the compound maybe three weeks before this last mission gone wrong.

Peter sees the photo and breaks out in a fit of what can only be described as teenage giggles.

"Oh—" the kid tries to breathe, "my—" he's wheezing now, trying to pull in breath, "they'll love it." He manages to choke out.

Steve nods in agreement and lines the sketchbook up so he can snap a photo of it without there being a glare. Then he pauses. An even better idea forming.

—

"STEVEN GRANT ROGERS!" He hears Bucky yelling before he can see him. His door bursts open and he sits there innocently.

"You called?"

Bucky shoves his phone under Steve's nose. "What is this!"

Steve doesn't have to look at the screen to know what's there. "My new twitter post. I call it, "Avengers: Off Duty"

The particular shade of red on his friend's face makes it all worth it. "You posted me wrapped in a blanket! Like I'm a toddler!"

"You were wrapped in a blanket." Steve says matter of factly, "I drew it as I saw it."

""I can't have people seeing that I drink coffee wrapped in a blanket!"

The statement throws Steve off, "why not?"

"Because! Because I—" Bucky's voice cuts off, but he glares at him, his face serious, then as Bucky searches for the reason, his face morphs, from anger to confusion, to unsurety. "Because… it makes me look…"

Human.

Steve's smile is soft. "I wanted the world to see you how I see you." He taps at the picture, "you're not that guy that Hydra created. You shouldn't be feared. You don't need to be feared. You're Bucky. You're human. You, like everyone else on this planet, enjoy coffee wrapped in a blanket." Then he looks at the screen for real, seeing the thousands of likes and retweets that have happened in just a matter of 20 minutes. He points to the screen, "And look, they like seeing you this way."

Bucky peers at the phone and his eyes widen.

—

Tony, Natasha, and Clint are all thrilled by the sketches posted of them. Bruce is more hesitant and Steve immediately goes to delete them, apologizing profusely for not having asked first. But Bruce grabs his hand and sighs, "no. It's fine. It's good. Maybe them seeing this is good."

Steve glances at the sketch. It's Bruce, his glasses perched on his nose as he stares into the oven, sitting on his heels. Baking what would turn out to be a birthday cake for Clint.

Steve's phone hadn't stopped buzzing since he'd posted them.

—

Who knew Captain America was such an artist? The news anchor says as Peter excitedly bounces up and down on his chair. He'd raced into the room not seconds before, flipping on Steve's TV and shouting "look, look, look, look, look!"

Steve stares in wonder as they showcase and analyze the drawings he had posted.

After the viral video of what looked like a pretty severe mission mishap, we're glad to see something from the famed super soldier. History books have mentioned that Steve Rogers attended art school before he'd been experimented on in the 40's.

Steve winces at their wording and Bucky glares at him, "idiot." He hears Bucky grumble.

But looks like he's healing and doing well. We hope to see more pictures and tweets from him soon!

"You're the fluff piece." The voice makes his head whip to the doorway where Tony stands, hands crossed over his chest and an amused smile on his lips.

"The what now?"

"The fluff piece. You know. They doom and gloom you for almost an hour, and then tack on a piece of warm and fuzzy so the world doesn't seem so dreary."

Steve considers this. It's not exactly what he'd had in mind… But being a bright spot can't hurt, so he just shrugs.

"Kid," Tony says, pointing at Peter, "Happy's gonna take you home."

"But I wanna—"

"Nope." Tony says, cutting I'm off with a hand slicing through the air. "You've been spending way too much time with Spangles here. He's healing. He's fine, you have been shirking your schoolwork, and your Aunt May is on my tail."

"Queens, you've been shirking homework?" Steve asks, guilt welling in his chest, he hadn't known. "You gotta take care of that stuff! That's priority."

"I wanted to make sure you never got bored." Peter says with a bit of a pout. "I want to see you walking again."

"First of all, how can I be bored with Bucky, the king of silence here." Steve says with a bright smile.

"Ha-ha." Bucky grumbles.

"And secondly, I promise to not take my first steps without you."

"Okay," Peter says slowly, "but I'll be back soon. Have some more sketches for me to help you post, okay?"

"You got it, Queens."

—

Wanda stops by later. "You need anything?"

"Yeah, can you take Bucky here for a walk?"

He watches as his friend's head snaps up, "what!?"

"Yeah, Bucky. You need some fresh air. I'm cooped up here, but you're not. So go take a breather. I'll be here when you get back. Promise."

"No way." He responds, "I'm fine."

"Please?" Steve says, "for me? And, while you're out, can you get me some art supplies? I have a list."

"Wanda can—"

"No, Wanda wasn't around my whole life to know what supplies i like best." Steve says firmly, "you know, and you're going."

"But—"

"And—" Steve starts, cutting him off. "Can you bring me one of those dumplings from the place with that cat that waves its hand? I miss going there." Steve pauses, hoping he's pushed just the right buttons to convince Bukcy to go take some time for himself. Even if it means running errands for Steve.

Bucky glances at Wanda and then back at Steve, "you're sure?"

"Yeah, Buck. I'm not going anywhere. And I want dumplings."

Bucky rolls his eyes. "Fine."

"See you soon!" Steve says as they exit, Wanda throws him a raised eyebrow to which he just smiles.

—

"Cap."

He blinks his eyes open to find Tony standing at the edge of his bed, face tight.

"Yeah, Tony, what is it, what's wrong?"

"You were right."

"Right….?"

"About the kid."

Steve shakes his head, trying to clear the sleep, "Huh?"

Tony's voice gets strained. "You were right, to ask about the kid! About his aging."

It sinks into Steve's brain what he's saying. "Oh…" He grimaces, "I'm sorry, Tony. How bad?"

"Huh?"

"How bad? Like me? Or maybe a bit less, like Bucky?"

"Yeah… I think—- I think like Barnes."

Steve's eyes are sorrowful as he looks at Tony who seems to be lost in thought. "I'm really sorry, Stark. You tell him?"

"Not yet. I tested his blood from a previous draw. He doesn't know."

Steve nods. "What are you gunna do?"

Tony looks at him miserably, "I gotta tell him, right?"

Steve tilts his head and nods, "I think you should. Give him time to get used to the idea and…" Steve sighs, "Just so you know… Whatever happens, he won't ever be alone." He winces, "I think I'll be last."

Tony doesn't look happy about that. "You want me to…" he looks at Steve with a conflicted expression, "you want me to try to work something out? To.. get rid of it?"

Steve feels his eyebrows pull up in surprise, "get rid of the serum?"

"Not right now!" Tony says in a rush, "I don't mean anytime soon, but.." he heaves a sigh, looking out the window, "I could probably undo what my dad did."

"You think so?"

"Don't know. I could look into it."

"I don't know… I'll think about it."

"Okay."

—-

Bucky dumps the supplies on the ground out of Steve's reach when he comes back. "No art until you eat."

"Bucky!" Steve almost whines, eyeing the brand new paints he can see.

Wanda laughs, "You were right!"

Bucky scoffs, handing Steve a giant bag of food, "of course I'm right. I've been dealing with his antics for almost 100 years."

Steve's eyes narrow, "my what now?"

"Your antics, Stevie." Bucky says, enunciating slowly. "Like how you used to forget to eat when we were kids because you were too busy drawing or painting."

"That happened like one time."

"That happened all the time! Your ma would hide your supplies until you ate."

Steve opens the plastic container and shoves a dumpling into his mouth and chews while glaring at Bucky.

—-