AN: I know, I know it's been a while. Next chappy New York!

Steve steps back into the room, pocketing his mobile. Thor had been ecstatic threatening to come join them but Steve had managed to convince him to stay put just in case. They're sat in a circle, Bucky on one of the beds. He tenses as soon as Steve steps in and Steve inwardly growls. This isn't right.

"So if Odin kidnapped him..." Bruce begins, falters a little and continues, "If Odin kidnapped what are we thinking? He steals him, falsifies the documents and then what? Goes to England until the heat dies down?"

If Steve were capable of coherent thought right now he might suggest that even someone like Odin wouldn't steal a kid... Right? I mean sure, he gets that Odin isn't the best guy around, he's heard about his shady underworld from Thor but running drugs and guns and laundering money and kidnap are two completely separate categories. The again he remembers Thor mentioning that his Dad had changed a lot since he was young. Maybe Odin had been capable of kidnap once upon a time.

"Could be," Tasha nods. "So he must have taken Loki from a rival, right? I mean he had Thor, why kidnap a kid randomly? Maybe we need to start there."

There's this awkward silence in which Steve's betting their all trying to picture a gang war going that wrong. The trouble is aside from Odin he's fairly certain none of them know of any other crime family that Odin could have been warring with. He glances around at them: Bruce is too good a kid, Tony's too wrapped up in his own Father's rivals to worry about the ones on the wrong side of the law, Clint's brother maybe but Steve thinks Tasha keeps Clint's nose out of trouble and then there's Bucky. Up until a few days ago Steve would have dismissed Bucky as easily as the others but now? He tries to catch his best friend's eyes but Bucky's gaze is fixed on the floor.

Steve's fairly sure life couldn't be more messed up right now if it tried.

"Buck?" He says gently. Bucky tenses more (if that's at all possible) and his fists clench, "You know anything?" He doesn't want to say it. Doesn't want to say do you happen to know anything because of your coke habit? Because right now he's sort of pretending that didn't happen (because god how did he not see it? How did he not see any of it?)

Bucky inclines his head, "I dunno...Maybe." Tasha reaches back to pat his leg, slung over the each of the bed and Bucky takes a deep breath. "The guy I... The guy I buy from - he used to work for this guy called Luffy? Laffee? Something like that... Anyway, apparently he used to be a real big deal. Got knocked down a few notches fifteen years ago now. Now he's pretty small. Heard he's based in Brooklyn now, trying to get back in the game. Could be him right?" He looks up nervously and it breaks Steve's heart a little. (When did this start happening?)

"That's good, Buck." Steve says, smiling as encouragingly as he can, Bucky's gaze drops back to the bed spread and Tony's pulling out his laptop and booting it up.

"If he used to be a big time criminal there'll be something on the web about him," he says, by way of explanation.

"Good idea," Steve nods. "So we head to Brooklyn, hope he's somewhere obvious?"

"He won't be," Tony mutters. "If Loki doesn't want to be found he won't be unless we look really hard."

Steve sighs, he's right. Of course he's right. Loki was hard enough to find in their tiny school when he was bunking classes, Steve can't imagine trying find that kid in New York.

"I've got my friends on the look out," Tony says as he taps away. "We can stay with Rhodey too so we don't have to worry about bed bugs anymore."

Bruce is leaning over and directing Tony's search and Steve's mind wanders back to Bucky. They've been best friends since forever. Steve knew Bucky way back when he was that kid with clothes two sizes too big who lived in the children's home down the road. He'd known Bucky through each foster family, each new hope, each crushing defeat as they shipped him back to the children's home. The other kids used to tease Bucky about but he fought back to hard for it to make a real impact and Steve was still that scrawny kid with asthma who got pushed around even more and fought back just as hard. He guesses they bonded over that. Their inability to back down. He thinks they're all like that, all these kids he calls his friends. Bruce and Clint with their crappy dads, Tony with his big gaping wound where tenderness should be that he covers up with sarcasm, Tasha with her fuck-you-you-who-cares-if-I'm-a-woman attitude, Thor who's so desperate to keep his family together, Loki and apparently Bucky who're fucking messes but keep going. Steve feels a little in awe of them.

"Laufey," Tony says eventually. "Laufey Jotunheim," he looks up at Bucky. "That sound right?" When Bucky nods Tony and Bruce pour over the laptop screen. "He was arrested in '95. That's the year Loki was born right? No mention of a kid though..." He spins the laptop and they're faced with the image of a man so pale his skin is almost translucent. His hair is close cropped, dark from what Steve can tell and his eyes are this warm brown colour that look almost red against the pallor of his skin. There's something of Loki in the smirk that's playing across his lips. He thinks Tasha sees it too.

"Shit," she breaths. "Shit. Is this real? Do we really Odin kidnapped him?"

"Well from what it says in that report Odin might have been saving him," Bruce says, readjusting his glasses. "Laufey sounds like a nasty piece of work."

"So, what if he actually finds the guy?" Clint asks.

And Steve takes a deep breath because he's been thinking the same thing. "Look," he says, as steadily as possible. "Loki would be worth more alive to him than dead."

"Unless he wants to hurt Odin, then surely he'd be happier to kill him," Clint counters unhelpfully. Tasha cuffs him and he looks genuinely surprised.

"Well if that was the plan they'd have found a body," Steve says. "I mean Laufey would want Odin to know."

"There haven't been any ransom demands either," Tasha adds. "So Loki must not have found him yet."

"That's a good thing," Tony says, "Definitely a good thing."

Steve's about to suggest they start figuring out a plan for how they're going to find Loki but Bucky interrupts, his voice cutting across the room sharply, "Or Laufey was pretty happy when his long lost son came back to him and he and Loki are playing happy families."

Steve sighs and Tony glares at Bucky, "The fuck is wrong with you? This guy is a dangerous fucking criminal and you're trying to make him out to be father of the year."

"I didn't say that-" Bucky protests and Steve stands up, he is not dealing with this again.

"Enough!" He snaps and like before when Bruce yelled Bucky's gaze drops and the fight vanishes from him immediately (and its disturbing in so many more ways than Steve can count but right now he needs them both relatively calm.) "This isn't going to help Loki. We need to stay calm. Buck's theory is valid, Tony. Laufey might be overjoyed, I mean that's what Loki wrote isn't it? That he might be better off?"

"He's a criminal," Tony growls.

"So's Odin," Tasha points out.

"And he's a better dad than mine ever was," Clint adds.

Tony grinds his teeth but says nothing and Bucky stands up and stalks outside (again.)

"Guess we better call it a night," Steve says wearily, getting up to follow Bucky.

Tony glares after Bucky and hopes the fucker feels it (he knows that's a bit of a stretch but he deserves it) Clint and Tasha leave for their room and Tony's left alone with Bruce who's watching him closely.

"It wouldn't be so bad," Bruce says quietly as Tony's brushing his teeth (it seems absurd to be doing something so normal after uncovering a potential kidnapping case) "If Laufey was happy to see Loki, I mean. It's better than the alternative anyway."

Tony drops his toothbrush with a clatter. "I just hope he hasn't found him yet." He says, striding back in to the main room.

"What are you so afraid of?" Bruce asks softly. "If Loki's happier here then..."

Tony cuts him off, "No, he's -" but he pauses because he's not allowed to be sounds a little too selfish but he has no idea how to phrase it. "It's just we're his family, Bruce. Why does he need anyone else? What about us and Thor? What about school? What about the tree house? What about-" he falters before he says me.

Bruce quirks a eyebrow, "You've got it bad, huh?"

Tony's always known Bruce was too sharp to hide things from.

Bucky's sat on the roof of the van, gazing up at the clouded sky. "Fuck off, Steve." He says after a few moments and damn, he sounds like the old Bucky, Steve's Bucky.

Steve leans up against the side, "Free country, Buck." At least he's talking this time. Last time he followed Bucky out they sat in silence until Bucky had stood up and left. Steve scrambles around for something to say but luckily Bucky saves him.

"You guys don't get it," he says quietly.

Steve looks up, "Hm?"

"You don't get what it's like to not know where you come from." He clarifies. "To not know who you are. It's weird. You feel like stuff like that shouldn't matter but it does. It eats at you. There's this little voice that tells you don't belong and it just... You spend a lot of time wondering who they were, why they gave you up, why you weren't good enough. Who you'd be if they hadn't."

This is a taboo topic between them. They don't talk about the things that really matter, not usually anyway.

Bucky swallows, "If it means anything now, I'm sorry."

Steve blinks, "Sorry for what, Buck?"

"For fucking up," he huffs, rubs a hand across his eyes. "For... I didn't mean it, Steve."

Steve really wants to hug him right now and tell him that none of that matters to him and he'll still be there for him and all that crap but he can't reach Bucky up there and his mouth has chosen this moment to stop cooperating. "It's okay, Buck." He says thickly.

Bucky takes a deep breathe, "I don't have any idea what to do, Steve." He says quietly.

And Steve steps back from the van to look up at Bucky better, "We'll deal with it, okay? We'll deal with it all once we've found Loki."

Bucky turns to him, "Right." He says stiffly. "After Loki."