Since he woke up several weeks ago, Bucky had heard a lot of things about the avengers. He knew they were powerful, he knew that Stark and Steve were on the team, and he knew that they were probably going to want to recruit him once he was proved stable.

Steve had told him about the other members, and Bucky looked forward to finally meeting them. However the team had judged it better and safer to let Bucky adapt to the new century in peace, without the pressure of social integration, so they had left for Barton's farm.

Right now, he was laying on his and Steve's bed, his flesh fingers running through the blond's hair slowly. Steve had fallen asleep shortly after he started doing that, so Bucky didn't stop, in fear of waking him up.

Steve had been the only person he had had any contacts with in the last two weeks, except the doctors of course. They said that he seemed to be experiencing flashbacks of his life as the Winter Soldier, and that it was a normal reaction.

Steve had had to explain him who the Winter Soldier was, and the conversation had ended when Bucky had ran to the bathroom to vomit.

For hours Steve would tell him over and over again that it wasn't him, it wasn't his fault, it was the Winter Soldier's, that no one blamed him for what the Winter Soldier had done – who he had killed - under the orders of Hydra.

And everytime Bucky would reply : "So you think Stark doesn't blame me ?"

And it never failed to end the conversation, since they both knew Tony blamed Bucky, they didn't need to ask the genius to know that.

Bucky was terrified of what the government would decide to do with him. Execute him ? Throw him in a maximum security prison ? Torture him for information ? Experiment on him ? Bucky shivered. The last one was the worst.

"Bucky, you think too loudly, I can't sleep" Mumbled a very cute looking and very sleepy Captain America next to him.

"Sorry punk." Grinned Bucky, not sorry at all.

The blond punched him playfully and they laughed. It reminded Bucky of how they were before it all, and he should have felt pain, but all he could feel was hope.

"Okay, time for breakfast, Buck. You're meeting the others today."

Bucky's eyes widened comically.

"I am... What ?" He demanded.

Steve laughed, getting out of bed.

"You're meeting the others today. They called yesterday but I didn't tell you because you wouldn't have slept."

Bucky stared at him for a moment, and then nodded slowly, a small smile in his lips. "I can't really deny that."

It was true, he was very anxious about meeting other people, especially people who knew about the Winter Soldier. He was terrified of spotting fear and mistrust in their eyes.

Steve put a hand on his shoulder and smiled gently at him.

"Come on, Bucky, don't be scared. They will absolutely love you, trust me."

"You'll stay with me ?" He asked, really hoping the answer would be yes, but he knew Steve wanted him to handle it on his own.

The Captain sighed.

"Listen, I trust them with my life. I trust them with you too. I swear, everything will go fine. I just want them to meet you, and only you. Not the 'Captain America's best friend' you."

This is why Bucky found himself watching TV without being able to focus on it, on the communal floor, alone, waiting for the avengers to arrive. And that's how Clint and Natasha found him.

"Is that how Steve treats his guests then ?" Asked Hawkeye, making Bucky startle and turned around quickly to assess the situation.

There were two strangers in the room. Well, not strangers. More like new people he already knew a lot about. These persons were Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton, superspies and avengers. Bucky noticed that they were studying him too, but he saw no mistrust in their eyes, and a weight seemed to disappear from above his chest at that observation.

The supersoldier wondered briefly where the other avengers were, but quickly figured they had decided not to crowd him.

"Hi" He said, hoping he wasn't being rude. His people skill were rusty.

"I'm Bucky" He added as an afterthought.

"Natasha Romanov, nice to meet you" Replied the woman, not making any move to come nearer.

The man crossed the room and sat next to him on the couch.

"I'm Clint. Clint Barton. So, what are you watching ?"

Bucky stared at him, mouth open. This guy was fearless. The bowman wasn't even tense at the idea of being sat right next to the Winter Soldier. Barton, who had focused on the screen for a few seconds, must have found the lack of answers weird, because he turned to Bucky again, frowning.

"Is there something on my face ?"

Bucky opened his mouth, closed it, looked away, and opened it again while studying the ground intently.

"Whyaren'tyou'fraidofme ?" He mumbled under his breath.

"What ?" Barton asked. Bucky was about to repeat what he just said when he felt a hand clap on his back, making the soldier in him flinch and prepare to fight. "Of course we're not afraid of you, Barnes ! Why would we ? We'd see it if it was the Winter Soldier in the room, and we would handle it. Tasha and I made plans to contain him if he ever came back, but really, since Tony made the tech that cured you, I don't think he will ever come back, and that was a LOT of talking help me out Nat I think I broke him."

"Already ?" Chuckled Natasha, and WOW. That was way closer than where she had been before. Bucky stopped staring at Barton to locate the redhead, only to find her right behind the couch, smiling down at them.

"You're scary." He stated.

Barton laughed. "Oh yeah she is. Awesome isn't it ?"

Bucky stared at him some more and nodded.

"I think we're going to be very good friends, Barnes." Said Romanov happily, settling on the couch on the other side of Bucky.

"Call me Bucky" He told them.

"Well use our first names too then, Buck" Bar-Clint replied. "JARVIS, put on mario kart, I wanna introduce Bucky to something useful."

"Mario kart is not useful, Clint" Natasha argued, sighing. It sounded like it wasn't the first time she said that.

Clint grinned at Bucky "Mario kart is very useful because it's the only game on which I can beat Natasha without her saying it's because I'm a sniper so it doesn't count"

Bucky smiled, amused.

Tony Stark was curled up on his couch, eyes fixed on the big screen on one of the walls. The screen was split in two. One of them showed Bucky playing video games with two superspies, and on the other, Steve was drawing.

Tony pretended not to see that it was a drawing of him, smiling.

[A few months ago, late at night]

Steve sat in their bed, drawing a man with dark brown hair, soft grey eyes, and a genuine, affectionate smile on his lips.

"Hey Steve ?" Called Tony, who was resting his head on his boyfriend's shoulder, watching the blond move the pen on the paper expertly.

"Yes dear ?" Answered the supersoldier, not looking up from the paper.

"What do you like to draw ?"

There was a short silence while Steve thought about it.

"I like to draw the things that I miss the most."