TONY

"What?" Tony bat his eyes at Bucky innocently, glancing back at the arm he was holding up. "You don't like it?" he pouted, exaggeratingly sticking out his lower lip and putting on the puppy dog eyes.

Bucky sighed. He couldn't say he was surprised. When Tony had attached "Mark I" to him, a gaudy, red and gold monstrosity that looked like it belonged more on a cheesy sci-fi B-film than in real life – complete with Tony Stark's autograph engraved in silver – Bucky had still been in a state of wary resignation to being Stark's pet project.

Now, looking at Stark's unveiling of Mark II, a clear jibe at Steve with its red, blue and white colours and striped design, Bucky almost regretted stopping Steve from coming in and yelling at Tony like he wanted to the last time.

"You'll hurt JARVIS' feelings," Tony was still talking. "Do you know how hard he worked last night to put a rush on the colours just for you?" Tony's innocent act began falling apart as Bucky simply raised a brow. It was nice to see that the other man was finally starting to loosen up. Especially between the two of them.

"…JARVIS?" Bucky prompted, still feeling a little awkward about how he should interact with the AI.

"Untrue, Sergeant Barnes. The painting process only requires a few minutes to complete," came the AI's unamused reply.

Bucky turned back his raised brow to the inventor. Tony's winning smile stayed on for another minute before it broke, and then he shrugged, "fine. Ask JARVIS to paint it whatever you want. Nobody ever appreciates my genius anyway," he muttered the last bit to himself petulantly.

STEVE

"Sergeant Barnes will not be taking any questions today. Please look forward to our detailed statement which will be released via the regular Avengers channels later today. It should cover all vital information the public needs to know." Regardless of his words, hands were already shooting up around the room.

Beside him, Bucky was nervously folding and unfolding the cards he had been given to talk about. He had been so jittery that they had fluttered noticeably when he was reading off them earlier. Steve reached over a placed a hand on Bucky's wrist. When the latter looked up, Steve shot him a reassuring smile, before turning back to the reporters and gesturing at one with their hand up.

"Captain Rogers, does this mean that Sergeant Barnes will be joining the Avengers?"

Frowning, Steve answered in a clipped tone, "I said that we would not be taking any questions regarding Sergeant Barnes today." At least the man had some shame left that he actually winced at Steve's disapproving tone. A few more brave hands shot up, and Steve pursed his lips before nodding at one.

Standard – and totally pointless, in Steve's opinion – questions for various members of the Avengers followed for a few minutes, before Pepper signalled for one last question. There were only a handful of hands left, and before Steve could gesture to another, one reporter called out, "Captain Rogers, I have a question for you."

Raising a brow, Steve considered her before nodding slowly. She smiled, and he wasn't sure what to make of it, as she stood up. "As I'm sure you know, your life and history has been well-documented over the decades. Your return and the recent exhibit at the Smithsonian has only reignited public interest in you. However there is one aspect that remains highly debated among historians and the public alike, which I'm sure has not been brought up previously simply out of courtesy."

Steve frowned, not sure where this is going, but nodded on. In his periphery, he saw Natasha, Tony and Clint huddling together and whispering. Even Pepper's usual professionally apathetic expression had furrowed in a brow but another expression was starting to make way; one that looked like realization.

"My question to you is; is there any truth to the speculations about you and Sergeant Barnes' close relationship with each other being more than simply platonic?" the reporter's eyes were staring, almost smugly, at where Steve still had a hand on Bucky's wrist.

Blinking, Steve could hear Pepper's sigh and see her pinching her brow in her fingers, already resigned to what Steve was going to say. On his other side, Tony was biting his lips but it was doing nothing to smother the highly amused glee on his face. Even Natasha had a smirk tugging at her lips as they all stared at Steve.

"Are you asking me whether Bucky and I were in a relationship during the war?" Steve asked plainly. His lips curled in amusement when the reporter's jaw went slack at how directly he had responded, before glancing sideways and nodding hesitatingly, as if expecting some sort of trap.

Steve turned to Bucky, who glanced at him, looked away, then back at Steve. The hand on Bucky's wrist squeezed softly, and Steve smiled at him again. "I don't see how this is any of your business, nor does it relate to the Avengers in any way," said Steve, turning back to the reporter. "But yes, Bucky and I have been dating since even before the war."

Time seemed to have halted for a second, before the room erupted in chaos and cameras were flashing so much it was like a flash bomb had gone off. But Steve didn't even have a mind to it as he grinned at Bucky, whose stunned expression melted into incredulity.

"You're such a punk," laughed Bucky, his shoulders finally losing some tension as he shook his head.

"Unfortunately for you, you're in love with this punk," Steve smirked as he leaned in a placed a chaste peck on Bucky's lips.

PEPPER

"Seriously, I can't believe you haven't had a phone this entire time," Pepper commented as she handed Bucky the box. Bucky shrugged, opening it up carefully and peering down at the sleek metal and glass inside.

"Didn't really have a reason to. Woulda been too easy to track when I was on the run. And after I came here…" he shrugged again. He'd almost never left the tower in the roughly half year since he'd arrived – aside for inevitable reasons such as meeting the President for his pardon and the press conference last week – and didn't see the need for one.

"Well, regardless, you need a phone," stated Pepper. "If only to be reachable when you do decide to go out. It's got everyone's numbers pre-programmed in, and the model is one Tony developed exclusively for the team, so the security is top of the line." Bucky nodded, turning the phone carefully in his fingers, and huffing in amusement at the trademark red-and-gold design at the back.

"It also has JARVIS integrated into the system. Not just for security, but it's also useful in screening out unwanted and unhelpful content." At Bucky's raised brow, Pepper elaborated. "As you've already experienced, media is rife with content that's meant to incite heightened emotions. Usually, this is through inciting anger at something. JARVIS helps sift through the unnecessarily negative information and content. He's integrated to every phone of this model," she pointed to the one in his hands. "But you are more than welcome to disable the function if you prefer."

"No," Bucky shook his head. "That sounds… good. I doubt I'll use it much anyway," he turned the phone around in his hand again. "But I'd rather not deal with… that."

Pepper nodded and smiled. "By the way, have you talked to Tony about the Mark III arm?"

"What?" Bucky blinked, looking at her quizzically. "Mark III?" he glanced down at his arm, which he'd promptly gotten JARVIS to repaint a plain black before the press conference. "He just gave me this one last month. It… how is he on Mark III when I haven't even been here six months?"

Laughing, Pepper smiled at him, "it's Tony." She said that like it was an answer in itself. Which, Bucky was starting to see, it probably was. "He took your suggestions in consideration for the Mark III. I think he'd like you to go in and see what you think about them."

She reached over and patted his shoulder lightly, turning to leave. "You can do it whenever you get the time. There's no rush. Heaven knows going sooner'll only give him an excuse to start working on Mark IV."