Bucky was trembling at Steve's side, fighting every instinct he had to tear out of the room, and the hand that was clinging to Steve's suddenly dampened with nervous sweat as Jack stepped up to Steve and held out his hand, saying, "It's a real honor to meet you, captain."

Steve grinned, accepting the handshake and thinking back to what Peggy had told him of this man as he replied, "And you. I've heard you're quite the husband."

"I try," Jack replied, squeezing Peggy's shoulders with his other hand while he smiled.

Bucky all but hid behind Steve, peering warily over his shoulder at the others, but there was a fair chance everyone here knew why. Jack's words manifested as green, and while his on Steve had been simple, Bucky's had been much more complicated – a man begging for his life. Anyone who knew early SHIELD history knew that Thompson had been shot out of a job, so to speak… and now Steve was figuring out who'd shot him. Bucky and Jack had already met, and it was pretty obvious Bucky remembered it. His whole body tensed as Jack opened his mouth to address him directly; he was getting ready to bolt, and Steve had no idea how far he had in mind to go.

And then a dark-haired man slipped up behind Jack, sliding an arm around his waist as he told Bucky, "Ten bucks says my blonde's more trouble than yours."

Somehow that was exactly the right thing to say to get Bucky to relax a little, because Steve could feel the very air around Bucky relax as he snorted, muttering, "Doubt it."

Jack arched an eyebrow at Steve, who merely shrugged. So long as Bucky's talking to someone.

"Okay," Peggy clapped her hands together authoritatively. "Introductions. We all know who Steve, Bucky, and now Jack are. The others are-" she pointed them out in turn. "–Angie and Daniel Sousa and Anna and Edwin Jarvis."

Steve did a double take on that last name as it struck him for the first time that he was looking at – and soulmate to – the brave man who had raised Tony Stark.

Judging by the look on his face, Edwin guessed, "I'm not what you expected, am I, Captain?"

"No, you aren't," Steve answered honestly. One of his favorite soulmarks had come from Howard Stark's butler. Because this was the shape his life was taking nowadays, and as he looked around at the others in the room, he was honestly okay with that. When Angie came up, he said as much to her, "But with as many pretty brunettes as I'm seeing in this room, that's alright by me."

She smirked, shrugging and eyeing him coyly as she replied, "The blondes aren't too bad either."

"Why, thank you, darling," Jack spoke up, pulling her to his other side.

"Come on, Jack," Daniel protested. "You've gotta give the poor man a chance. He turned to Steve, saying, "I apologize for him; he can be a bit of an attention hog."

Steve eyed Bucky teasingly as he replied dryly, "That's fine; I'm used to having to fight past my friends to get a girl."

"They ignored me after your serum," Bucky protested. "Which is a crying shame!" Angie declared, wiggling away from Jack to wrap her arms around Bucky's metal arm fearlessly.

Bucky froze – it hadn't escaped Steve's notice how particular he was about whom he let touch the prosthetic – and looked down at Angie like he was a cornered mouse. He opened his mouth with a question in his eyes, nervously licking his lips before he said softly – a ghost of the man Steve knew – "Not that you and your big, blue eyes are familiar with that problem."

"Careful of those eyes, though," Eddie spoke up to warn Bucky lightly. "They'll win entire arguments before even a word is said."

Sarcasm was obviously still going to be Bucky's default because he rolled his eyes pointedly at Steve, admitting to Eddie, 'I'm used to' the effects baby blues can have."

"You are?" Steve snorted. "Go check a mirror, jerk."

Eddie asked, "Are we going to sit down?"

"Actually," Steve replied. "We should probably give Thor his apartment back."

So they all shuffled into the elevator together. Bucky ended up with Steve on one side and on the other… a woman who had yet to say a word – Anna Jarvis, according to Peggy. She was the tiniest person here, and was setting off long-buried instincts in him that he usually associated with pre-serum Steve. She was a little freaked out and needed a push in the right direction. He was asking for it, considering what his words from her were, but she just looked so uncertain… For this little soulmate he thought maybe he could risk it.

He leaned down to her ear and murmured, "If I'm not allowed to be shy, I don't think you are either."

"They're letting you ignore Jack, aren't they?" she pointed out predictably, obviously startled – first when he spoke and then at her own brassy reply.

"I'm not ignoring him; there's just a conversation that we need to have privately before anything else happens between us."

"I agree," Anna said. "So let's make a deal. You have that talk with Jack and only then will I talk to Steve."

Bucky raised his eyebrows. He'd expected a lot of replies, but not that. "That's not a deal; it's blackmail."

She turned, looking him in the eye for the first time – and gone was the petrified puppy expression. She knew the exact corner she'd just backed him into and she knew she was going to win – and she seemed almost proud of it.

Suddenly he realized, "You're just another punk!"

"Only for my family's sake," she grinned.

He had absolutely just been played! The part of him that was the Winter Soldier wanted to be irritated, angry with her even, but Bucky had always been amused by a harmless but feisty pipsqueak… and around these seven he felt more and more like Bucky – like a human being – then he had since before he could remember.