A/N: I had the idea to do this a really long time ago, but I just wasn't sure I could pull it off. Recently, I was taking part in an event on Dreamwidth called the The 3 Sentence Ficathon. One of the prompts was for a college AU for any fandom, so I did a little piece with Nat, Pepper, and Bucky at university. It sparked the idea in my head again, made me want to make a serious attempt at this fic (serious is probably the wrong word in the circumstances! lol) and here it is. Inspired at least in part by a fanfic I wrote in 2009/2010 called Firefly High (yes, I wrote the crew of Serenity has high school students and high school adjacent characters) I just hope somebody other than me gets a kick out of this... and even if they don't, I'm probably going to write it anyway ;)

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters, situations, and dialogue from any film in the MCU belongs to Marvel and other folks who aren't me.

Chapter 1

"James Buchanan Barnes," said the dean, eyes scanning the folder held between his two hands. "You have quite the record here, young man. Seems you started out okay, took kind of a turn, but as far as I can tell, seem to have gotten yourself back on the straight and narrow at this point."

Bucky said nothing. It always seemed safer in those kinds of meetings. Only speak when you're spoken to, and even then, be careful what you say and to whom. He hadn't done well with authority for quite a while now, though Dean Fury wasn't wrong, he had been trying more recently.

"Well, Mr Barnes," said the dean then, closing up the folder, leaning somewhat menacingly over the desk towards Bucky. "Let me make one thing crystal clear to you. Here at Marvel Collegiate University, the only thing we don't tolerate is people who don't try. You show up to your classes, turn in your papers and projects on time, keep on the right side of your professors, and you and me won't have a single problem."

Bucky nodded once to let him know he understood that part.

"Of course, if you break the rules that help keep MCU running smoothly, if you make my life difficult in any way at all," Fury continued without pause, raising his hands to gesture first to Bucky then to himself, "Ant, boot. You got that, Barnes?"

"Yes, sir," he agreed easily, recognising the meeting was over and getting up from his seat as Fury did the same.

Reaching for his bag, he threw it over his shoulder and turned to leave, grateful for no parting shot from Fury, smirking slightly at the way a couple of much skinnier guys seemed to cower as he strode past them down the hallways.

Bucky didn't think MCU would be any worse than his last school. In fact, it wouldn't take much for it to be better. Transferring in Sophomore year was a pain in the ass, but nothing he couldn't handle. He had certainly gone through worse.

"Much worse," he muttered to himself, just as he turned the corner and spotted a red-headed beauty getting hassle from some meat-head jock.

Before Bucky could even think about trying to intervene for the lady, he realised he was so totally not needed. In a flash, she had the guy - who was easily twice her size - pinned against the wall, with his arm so far up his back it looked like it ought to be physically impossible that she wasn't snapping bones.

Moving in a little closer, Bucky was in time to hear the would-be attacker asshole call the red-head a crazy bitch before almost running away from the scene. She only smiled, picked up her fallen jacket and bag, and carried on to wherever she had been going before the incident occurred. She never even glanced in Bucky's direction, but damn, he wished she would.

Nat slipped into her seat in World History, hoping no-one in class had seen the incident in the hallway outside. It was great to be a young woman who could take care of herself, she never once regretted having trained her body the way she had, but she could do without all the attention it brought sometimes.

"Ugh, seriously?" she muttered to herself on seeing the sleeve of her sweater was torn.

"Fashion crisis already, Nat?" her friend Steve teased her as he sat down beside her.

"Yes, that's what this is," she replied, rolling her eyes. "Some guy in the hall didn't understand no. Of course, I dealt with it, but..."

"His pride wasn't the only casualty." Steve sighed, fingering the frayed edges of her sleeve. "You know, if Peggy were here..."

Nat winced all over again, seeing the hurt pass over her friend's face. She had ruined a sweater, which was a pain, but Steve's heart had much bigger damage. Poor guy, he really was one of the best, and he and Peggy Carter had been such a great couple. Of course, they knew from the beginning of their picture-perfect romance that she was only attending MCU for six months on an exchange programme from England. She stuck around for part of this past summer, but then that was it, she had to head home. There were no guarantees on when the two lovebirds would ever see each other again.

"I'm sorry," said Nat, her hand on Steve's arm. "I know it's rough for you right now."

"Yeah, but I knew what I was getting into," he said, shaking his head. "At least, I thought I did."

There was no chance for further sympathy as the professor called all attention to the front and began the class. Still, even as Nat tried to focus on all the details of what the course would cover, she found her mind was wandering. Partly, her problem was Steve's heartbreak. She really did need to do something to cheer him up and not let this year become all about moping. On the other hand, her attention kept being taken by a figure outside the classroom window. A good mystery always intrigued her.

Unfortunately, half way through Mr Coulson's long speech on the infinite joys of World History, Nat looked up to realise her mysterious onlooker had disappeared. Now that was a real shame.

"That guy is really enthusiastic about his subject," said Steve when class was over and they were walking across campus together.

"Yeah, seems that way," she said absently, eyes all over the place, looking for the guy she had only seen at a distance so far - she wanted a closer look and smiled when she saw him at the corner of the next building over. "I don't know who he is, but he's definitely interesting," she said aloud, not really knowing she had until Steve answered her.

"That guy on the corner?" he checked, waiting for her nod of confirmation before he went on. "Yeah, funny story. I actually used to know him..."

"Ah, here he is!" said Thor, slapping Steve on the back as he came rushing through the locker room door. "We had all but forsaken you, Rogers."

"I got talking with some friends and I lost track of time, that's all," he explained, hurrying to change into his uniform ready for football practice. "If I was the type to apportion blame, I'd probably pin it all on Stark," he said, rolling his eyes.

"I thought you guys got along these days?" said Clint from across the way.

"We do." Steve nodded, pausing to pull his shirt off over his head. "But he kind of bust in on a private conversation I was trying to have with Nat."

"Private conversation?" his friend checked, casting a look Steve's way. "You know, I do a good big brother where Nat's concerned, whether she needs me to or not, and since I know you're not over Carter yet..."

"Not that kind of private conversation," he assured Clint. "It was just... it's not even all that important, but Pepper came over to check in with Nat, of course Tony was with her. He took over the conversation, just like he always does, and before I knew it, I was late."

Thor laughed loudly. "Yes, Tony Stark is quite the force in conversation, and when it comes to the science fair and such, but he has not the strength in his arm or the force in his body to play in the ranks of the mighty MCU Avengers!" he said with a triumphant fist raised high.

Clint smirked. "Dude, sometimes I think you take college ball just a little too seriously," he advised Thor. "It's a game, a sport, kind of a big deal to some people, but it's not a battle to the death or an actual war."

"When we play DCU it will be," said his friend with a look. "For that is a mighty match, without question, for as long as they have Kent and Allen in their ranks."

Steve had stopped listening by then, eager to just get into his uniform and start practice already. So far, the new school year seemed to be all uphill. Between the pile of books he needed to read for class, football practice, Nat fast becoming almost unhealthily interested in Bucky Barnes, and the constant hole in his heart since Peggy went home to England, Steve really wasn't sure how he was going to get through. All he knew was that he had to be strong, somehow.

"I don't know, I thought it made sense to take a Physics class. At least then I might stand a chance of understanding some of what Tony talks about when he gets into it." Pepper sighed. "Two days in and I'm already regretting it."

"Why don't you just keep going for a couple of weeks, and then, if you really hate it, you can switch to something else," Nat suggested as they walked along together.

"Maybe," her friend considered. "It would be nice to spend more time with Tony. I'm constantly losing him to his brother-in-science lately," she complained, rolling her eyes. "I mean, Bruce is nice enough, you know that."

"Sure," said Nat, nodding her agreement, "I would never have agreed to go out with him last year if he wasn't, but he's a little..." she trailed off, realising she didn't have the word to hand, but apparently, she didn't need it.

"Exactly!" Pepper nodded in understanding and agreement. "He's some kind of undefinable thing that's just... I don't know, it's weird. Anyway, he's almost always in the lab and Tony is with him. I don't want to be the girlfriend that is jealous of her boyfriend's friends or his passion or anything, but it bugs me sometimes."

Nat smiled at her, patting her arm. "You're allowed to be bugged, Pepper. It's normal. I'm pretty sure it just means you care."

Pepper smiled back at her and thanked her for being a good friend. That smile slipped a little as something, or someone up ahead seemed to catch her eye.

"That guy is staring at you again," she said, hugging her books tighter to her chest.

Nat glanced over at the guy in question and tried not to smirk at the smouldering look she got back.

"Steve knows him," she explained, still staring. "Says his name is James, but everyone calls him Bucky. They knew each other in grade school or something."

"He seems super-intense and kinda wild to me," her friend said softly as they passed by, as if that were such a terrible thing.

Actually, her remark only made Nat smile wider. Looking back over her shoulder at Bucky, she saw him realise he'd been caught staring and glance away fast.

"Wild and intense?" she echoed Pepper's words. "Hmm, I hope so."

To Be Continued...