"Jimmy!" Dugan bellows from across the camp when he spots Bucky at Steve's side, headed for the mess.

Steve sees the tiny flinch Bucky gives at the sudden noise. The briefest jolt of panic that flows over his friend's body, then out again as if it had never been. If he didn't know Bucky as well as he does, he probably would've missed it. There's no sign of distress an instant later as Bucky rounds on his heel to meet Dum Dum head-on.

Dugan moves fast for a big man, and the next thing Steve knows, Bucky's abruptly airborne again, this time squeezed against Dugan's enormous shoulder. He's swearing a blue-streak.
"Had me worried, y'little bastard!" Dum Dum crows, grinning at Bucky - who looks like he can't decide if he's thrilled to see Dum Dum or if he wants to punch him right in the eye. "When they wouldn't let us in, we thought ya were done for! … Y'know, again." He turns to Steve, Bucky still slung over one shoulder, putting on a great show of holding his hat to his chest. "This kid, I tell ya, Cap. Turn yer back on 'im for one second-"

"First of all, it's BUCKY, blockhead. -BUCKY-. And christ, are you ever preachin' to the wrong choir there, buddy boy!" Bucky grumbles, pushing against Dum Dum's arm and wriggling to try to get his feet back on the ground for the second time in a day. Steve notices, but doesn't comment on, the slightly frantic edge in his friend's eyes.
He can guess well enough why Bucky's not big on being picked up, especially out of the blue. He feels kind of guilty that he did the exact same thing without thinking, not an hour ago.

"Hey, Dugan-" he starts, about to intervene, but Bucky is already talking over him.

"You have any idea what that kid does for fun?" Bucky continues, shoving at the back of Dugan's head. "And put me down already, y'big jackass! What is it with you two lunkhead's haulin' me around all the time?"

"-izzat Sarge?!" Steve turns to find Jim Morita emerging from a nearby tent. The soldier stares for a second, then breaks into a grin, ducking his head back under the flap. "Guys, it's Sarge!"

James 'Monty' Fallsworth, Jacque Dernier, Gabe Jones, and a handful of other returned prisoners (who's names he never quite caught), burst out of the tent in an excited clump right as Dugan is finally returning Bucky to the ground, and accepting a half-hearted cuff on the arm as retribution. The big man is still grinning like an idiot, and he doesn't move far from Bucky's side.

Steve stands back out of way as well-wishes and pats on the back are shared all around. A small crowd has formed around Bucky that's quickly getting excited and noisy, and he's ready to stand in and play Captain America to draw off unwanted attention if he needs to give his friend an out.

Bucky looks edgy... But he doesn't jump after the first couple of hands thump on his shoulder, and he seems genuinely happy to see everybody; so Steve gives him space and lets him soak up the attention. He shuffles back several feet and waits. He doesn't want to get in the way or accidentally take over the spotlight if someone suddenly realizes that Captain America is standing here in the middle of the camp like a doofus, so he keeps his head down and just keeps a weather eye on his friend from a short distance.
For all Buck's been jumping at every noise, he seems like he's been dying for some contact with the outside world, and Steve honestly can't blame him for that. Bucky deserves to have somebody that gives half a damn make a fuss over him for a change. Somebody that isn't just Steve.

The poor guy barely even twitches when someone jostles him, though Steve doesn't miss the momentary flash of nerves that passes over Bucky's face when it happens. He knows his friend way too well to miss that.
He makes a mental note of it and says nothing.

"Where the hell have you been hiding, Barnes?" Jones asks him with a grin, fishing out and handing over another one of the same caramels he'd sent in with Steve yesterday. He presses it into Bucky's fingers, then shoves Bucky's hand away when he tries to give it back. "Eat the damn thing," he says, raising an eyebrow, "you look like a fuckin' scarecrow, man." Jones glances over at Steve once he's sure Bucky isn't going to try to foist the candy back at him, and reaches over to give him a playful shove in the arm, drawing him back into the thick of things.
"Your boy here was like a fuckin' puppy the whole time you were out, y'know. Kept hangin' around the infirmary like he was hopin' you'd come take him for a walk."

"Hey! I'm not a- I was not hanging around the infirmary!" Steve protests weakly, holding up his hands in his own defense.
Honestly...he sort of was… but that was friendly concern, not dependant moping, thank you very much.

Bucky grins at him, finally pocketing the candy, and Steve decides he doesn't really care that much what they decide to call it. He'll take one for the team and accept his ribbing with as much grace as he's got in him.

"Aww, kid, I'm touched." Bucky's grin turns teasing, and he can hear someone, probably Mortia, sniggering off to his left. "You want me to go see if I can find ya bone to chew on or somethin'?"

"Hey, I'm sure we can get a pretty nurse t'scratch ya behind th' ears." Dugan chimes in, and that gets everybody laughing. He mimes scratching at Steve's head, who pushes him off.
"Who's a good boy? Who's a good li'l Cap?"

"You're hilarious, you bunch of assholes." Steve mutters, though he's grinning himself. "Fucking hilarious."

"Aw, we only give you shit because we care, Cap." Jones tells him matching his grin. Steve shakes his head - he's laughing. It feels good to get crap from friends instead of bullies or army brass for a change.
He's got friends.
More than just the one.
It's… nice.

Fallsworth holds out his hand to shake Bucky's instead of launching at him like most of the others. He's a reserved person, Steve thinks. Not prone to many words or much emotion… but he's badly hiding a smile.
He'll come to find out in time that Monty's not nearly as dignified as he'd like people to believe. Like most soldiers, he's got a good handle on gallows humor, and a dry wit. He just isn't one for emotional displays, and he doesn't bond readily with strangers.

Steve will, several months from now, look at this man across the group's pitiful camp-fire in the hills of northern Italy, and think about that. And smile quietly to himself.
Bucky was a stranger, when Monty orchestrated the plan that would ultimately save the mouthy, abused American's life. Bucky doesn't remember this, but he was still little more than a stranger when Fallsworth had stood up in the face of two armed guards, already having been shoved around once, and snarled in his most dangerous voice.
"If you want him, then I suggest you make me move."
Leave it to Bucky...

Dernier has no such boundaries. He just dives right in and hugs Bucky like they're long lost brothers the moment Fallsworth releases Bucky's arm. While the frenchman's not big enough to hoist Buck up into the air, he definitely squeezes him hard enough to knock the wind out of him.
He jostles Bucky and tosses an arm around his shoulder - a mirror image of what Bucky used to do with Steve, when he was small enough. Dernier laughs, all enthusiasm, and grinningly proclaims something in rapid-fire French that has Jones chuckling. The others just shrug.

Steve really needs to learn to speak French...
He seems to be missing out on a lot of good stuff without it.

He notices another tiny flinch when Dernier gives Bucky another hard squeeze just before he lets go; smoothed over almost before it appears. Steve makes another mental note: he'll talk to Bucky about it later, in the relative privacy of their now shared quarters.

For the time being, they're more than 20 minutes overdue at the mess, and Peggy's going to kill him.