Note: Spoilers for 'Age of Ultron' and 'Cap 2'. A 5+1 fic, because of reasons.

"Six Songs"

One

Steve had always listened to music. But it was easier now that he had FRIDAY to help him find whatever he was looking for, and set up play-lists for when he was in certain moods. His iPod (which gave Tony a twitch in his eye, a definite bonus) was packed with the same play-lists, and could be updated remotely by FRIDAY.

However, his collection was eclectic, and some of the songs were… unexpected, at least to the other Avengers. Ever since Bucky moved in and joined the team, he'd become the go-to person for interpreting the strange behaviour of Steve Rogers. He suspected that Steve was the go-to person for explaining Bucky, so it was only fair that he answer their questions when he could.

"Seriously," Rhodey said, nodding to where Steve was jiving along to 'Red Right Hand' while he made an apple pie. "That song? I would've thought—"

"Lovey-dovey golden oldies?" Bucky asked, ever amused by the preconceived notions the Avengers had of Captain America. "Not exactly the best way to move forward."

"But it's a creepy song."

"I think the hand thing reminds him of me," Bucky said, flexing his left hand. Rhodey winced sympathetically.

"Sorry. Didn't think of that," he admitted.

"Probably also likes the simplicity of the tune and the way it contrasts with the country-style accompaniment, the sort of… what-do-you-call-it. Anachronism; knew it started with an 'a'." Rhodey stared at him. "What?"

"Nothin'," Rhodey said. "See ya later, Bucky."

Two

"I could stare at that forever," Darcy said, watching the way Steve's hips swung in time with his dipping shoulders. "Yummy. Pity he's stuck in the past half the time, and I'm an all-modern girl."

"Yeah, pity," Bucky said.

"But why this song? Wouldn't have pictured Captain America dancing to this. Or, before you say it, Steve Rogers. He just… doesn't seem the type."

Steve sang along to the oh-oh-ohs, waving one arm while the other held a pretend microphone. Sometimes Bucky suspected he was playing it up for the crowd, probably left over from the days of selling war bonds with the USO girls… not the time.

"Hey, Steve!" Darcy called over the music. Shamelessly, Steve grinned over his shoulder, and then turned slowly. Bucky noticed the way her gaze dropped back down to his hips, and she licked her lips. "So. Do you wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy?"

"If I knew who that way, I probably would!" he replied, and he went back to singing along with 'Tik Tok'.

Three

"Okay, who introduced Cap to Avenue Q?" Clint asked.

"He asked FRIDAY to tell him some of the albums you all listen to," Bucky said, "so it wouldn't disturb you so much if he happened to be listening to any of it while you were around. You know what this is from, so I presume it's one of your albums?"

Clint blushed, and cleared his throat. "Broadway has some excellent music, I'll have you know."

"Not saying it doesn't. I listen to Wicked at least three times a week."

"Yeah… but Steve is listening to 'Schadenfreude'."

Bucky frowned. "He's not allowed to like anything written before nineteen forty-five, or with a German name?"

"No! I'm not sayin' that, Bucky. It's just weird to hear Captain America singing… well…"

"Fuck you, lady, that's what stairs are for!" Steve sang, pointing at the elevator. Clint dropped his head into his hands.

"Please tell me he hasn't listened to the album of The Full Monty?" he begged.

"Isn't that the one with 'The Goods'? `Cause yeah, he finds that one hilarious."

"Shit. I corrupted Captain America musically."

Bucky patted him on the head.

Four

Pietro sped right into Bucky, sending both of them sprawling to their asses. Bucky scowled at him.

"What's the rush, kiddo?" he asked.

"Went to talk to Steve after his workout," Pietro said, shaking his head as he got to his feet. Bucky stood as well, and crossed his arms, his glare encouraging Pietro to continue. "H-he was jerking off in the shower."

"…Huh. Thought he kept that to the bedroom."

"What?"

"He's not the only one around here with super senses," Bucky muttered. "So you caught him beating one off. Problem…?"

"He was singing along to music while he did it!" Pietro said, waving his arms in his dramatic European fashion. "Who does that?"

Bucky blinked. "Okay, I can understand listening to music, but singing along to it while…? That's one I haven't heard before. What was the song?"

Pietro shrugged. FRIDAY answered for him.

"'I Touch Myself', by the Divinyls," she said.

"I bet you do, you saucy minx," Bucky said, winking at the ceiling. "Yeah, sounds like the right kinda song for that. Forget about it, kiddo."

Pietro was muttering something like 'How can I ever forget that?' to himself as he shuffled along. Bucky just chuckled as he headed to the kitchen. Steve would be extra-hungry by the time he'd finished. May as well make some sandwiches.

Five

Steve was in the room usually kept for the Hulk's tantrums, where old scrap metal could be beaten up. They all had bad days, but not everyone could smash steel outta shape. Steve was giving it the good ol' college try, though, judging by the footage Tony shoved in Bucky's face.

"Explain," he said.

"I'm still the Steve-opaedia?" Bucky quipped.

"It's wrong to see Captain America depressed. It's even more wrong to see Steve Apple Pie Rogers depressed, and singing metal."

"Appropriate, seein' as how he's beatin' up a lotta metal right now," Bucky said, trying to step past. Tony moved in front of him and frowned.

"I'm… concerned, okay?" he asked. "There. I said it."

"What's he singin'?" Bucky said, seeing that he wasn't going anywhere until Tony got his way. Goddamn Starks. Tony raised the volume, and Bucky could hear Steve singing the chorus, punctuating each note or bar with a hammer to a sheet of metal.

"I. Hate. Everything about you! Why. Do I love you?" Steve was sort of speak-singing, not sing-singing. Bucky winced, and he knew what this was about.

"We knew your dad," he said. Tony's face closed up.

"I know," he said tightly.

"They were soulmates, Steve and Howard."

"…No. That's impossible. What the hell? Shit! Why didn't he say…?"

Bucky sighed. "Couldn't really tell anyone, `cause they only had the one soulmark each, which usually meant non-platonic, and… it was the forties, and the army, and Steve wouldn't have minded only your dad had his company, and he needed an heir. So he taunted Steve by hittin' on Peggy, who Steve was half-sweet on…"

"Like a goddamned soap opera," Tony said, running an agitated hand through his short, scruffy hair.

"You know the rest of the story," Bucky said, shrugging. "Clearly they never got to be together. But after Steve went down… I hear Howard never stopped looking for him?"

"Never shut up about him, either," Tony said. "Makes a whole lot more sense now."

"Maybe give him less crap about it? It's hard, especially since soulmarks don't die, just fade. He has to see it on the inside of his knee every time he sees his leg. On the bad days he hammers it out, `cause he lost his chance. I mean, we wouldn't have you, `less your mom was a surrogate or somethin'. Heh. Can you imagine me as Uncle Bucky?"

"I'm gonna try not to. Shit."

"Language."

Tony glared at him. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. I've just found out my dad and Captain America were soulmates, and they got the tragic end of the deal."

"Add to that…"

"Add to that what?"

Bucky chewed his lower lip before replying. "When he woke up, he didn't know he had a new soulmark until after his new soulmate died. He hasn't gotten a new one since."

"…Oh. Does he know who it was?"

He nodded. "Some guy named Coulson. That the one you talk about sometimes?"

"Agent Coulson? Agent Cap-Fanboy Coulson was his soulmate?"

"An' he didn't find out until `bout a week after it. He didn't feel the soulmark form, and of course he didn't feel it fade. So thinkin' about Howard makes him think about Coulson, and losin' both his soulmates. Just… cut him some slack on days like this, yeah? And for Christ's sake, no more questioning his musical choices, huh? He's allowed to listen to whatever he wants to."

Tony raised his hands in surrender. "Can we question your musical choices, at least? We need to get our kicks from somewhere."

"So long as you leave Stevie alone, do whatever the hell you want."

Plus one

"People of his age should not be singing Disney while beating things up," Natasha remarked, watching Bucky rhythmically decimate another reinforced punching bag.

"I don't know why we like Frozen so much," Steve said, frowning where they were watching from the other side of the glass. "Considering our history with… cold things. But I think it helps. The lighter stuff, anyway."

During 'Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?', the part of the song where the parents' ship sank, Bucky grabbed the bag and held on, resting his forehead against the tough leather. His heaving chest was visible from the window, and Steve was pretty sure his friend was fighting back tears. Uncomfortable, he turned his back on the scene and nearly bumped into a group of people. Two young women were at the front, the darker-skinned one raising her eyebrows and the other staring past Steve to watch Bucky.

"C-can we help you?" Steve asked, fighting the urge to scratch the back of his neck.

"Yeah," said the first girl. "You're Captain Rogers, right?"

"Uh-huh?"

"I'm Skye. This is Simmons, Fitz, Hunter, and Mack. We're here with our boss. He sent us down to find out what was keeping all of you?"

"You couldn't just ask FRIDAY to inform us that we were required elsewhere?" Natasha asked; a fair point.

"Not as much fun as seeing the training area for ourselves. Especially for the eye candy."

"Skye!" Simmons exclaimed. "Behave yourself."

"Yeah, `cause you totally weren't staring at McHotterson over there."

Simmons blushed. Steve exchanged glances with Natasha, then checked on Bucky. He was looking at them, and casually waved. Skye waved back, and Simmons ducked her head. The three guys with them just looked bemused.

"Want me to introduce you?" Steve said. But then the music started again, and he sighed. "Or not. Maybe later?"

"Nah, might get busy later," Skye said. Natasha shrugged, and waved the others in ahead of her, her sharp eyes raking over each stranger as they filed past. Bucky was now kicking the bag between punches.

"For the first time in forever, there'll be music, there'll be fun," he was singing along, falling into a new rhythm with the song. Every single one of their visitors was ogling him, and Steve wondered if any of them were mated, and whether their soulmates minded. But what did he know about soulmates? He couldn't hold on to a single one.

Tightening his jaw, he walked into Bucky's line of sight.

"What is it, punk?" Bucky asked, still moving but no longer singing.

"Got some people to meet you," Steve said. Bucky glanced at the visitors over his shoulder, nodded, then went back to working out.

"What're they doing here?" he said.

"They're here with their boss," he replied. He felt antsy, like an itch at his soulmark, and wondered whether these kids were SHIELD. Whether thinking about it made him remember its founders, remember the representative who must've thought Steve wasn't interested when he didn't react to the agent's words. Or maybe Coulson's soulmark was generic, and Steve hadn't been original enough? He couldn't remember what he'd said to the agent, which was unnatural. He never blanked like that. Guilt?

"You're thinkin' too hard," Bucky said. "You're gonna get frown lines, old man."

"You were born before me," Steve reminded him.

"My point stands."

The song was nearing an end when Bucky stopped toying with the punching bag and retreated to the bench. He wiped himself off with a towel, threw it aside, and then moved back to the group, looking them over. Steve noticed the way his eyes lingered on the English girl, and fought a smile.

"Next one, FRIDAY?" Bucky said, taking a quick look at the ceiling.

"Your favourite," the AI replied. It felt weird having a female butler, like there was always a woman spying on them. For some reason, it didn't feel so weird when it was JARVIS. Steve kinda missed him. Huh. Maybe it was this feeling of safety which led him to having male soulmates, not female?

Introspections were a distraction. 'Let It Go' was on, and Bucky was half-smiling. He grabbed Natasha's hand and began to dance with her, and she smirked as he sang.

"Do you know every Disney song ever written?" she asked. He shook his head. "Right. Change of partner."

Bucky laughed as she swung him towards the group. Steve swiftly passed him off to the girl Bucky had been eyeing, and her eyes widened.

"Let the storm rage on," Bucky sang, and he dipped her over his arm. "The cold never bothered me anyway."

"Now I'm wishing I watched more Disney, but we've been too busy," Simmons babbled. She clutched Bucky's arms when he almost dropped her, and he straightened up.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"…I can't remember. But you said my words. Sang them, rather."

"Let me see," he said. She pursed her lips.

"Not in public," she said. "Not where my mark is located."

That old Bucky Barnes charming grin emerged for the first time in… well, since the war, and Steve's heart lifted when he saw it.

"Better bring a chaperone with you, then," Bucky said, tucking her hand into the crook of his elbow. "You're the reason I've been listenin' to so much Disney, y'know."

"Huh," Steve said, meeting Natasha's eyes as Bucky and Simmons walked off, Skye trailing behind them. "That explains it, then."

"Boss man wants us back upstairs," Hunter said, and Steve noticed he was staring at his phone. "Let's go. He'll want to see both of you." He arched an eyebrow. "And you'll definitely want to see him."

Back up at the common area, Steve saw Tony's pissed off expression and Fury's familiar figure, before he saw…

"Coulson?" he said.

"What the fuck?" Natasha said. Okay, he wasn't expecting that, but he was more concerned about the fact that Phil Coulson was apparently still alive. Was it… was it Steve's fault that he'd stayed away? Shit. He hoped not. Three years of…

"Nice to see you again, Agent Romanov, Captain Rogers," he said, his voice even and his expression as mildly blank as Steve remembered. "We have a lot to discuss."

"Were you ever gonna tell us?" Steve asked. Coulson tilted his head.

"Eventually," he said. "Only if you needed me. SHIELD has helped you once, thanks to Nick and the Theta Protocol. I thought it was time to let you know—"

"We needed you!" Steve said, stepping forward. Coulson tensed, but didn't move back. "I needed you."

Coulson's eyebrows drew together. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Steve's clenched his hands, inhaled deeply. "Don't soulmarks mean anything to you?"

He knew that the others were probably reacting. He'd only told Bucky about his second soulmark, no one else. Coulson's gaze flicked away briefly.

"Could ask you the same question," he murmured. "We have work to do. Mr. Stark, if you can get past your personal hurt over this – and really, I have no idea why you'd care so damn much – maybe you can point us towards a good briefing room?"

Steve wasn't letting that go. When Coulson made the mistake of trying to pass him, Steve clamped a hand on the agent's arm and dragged him – gently – out of the room, ignoring the protests.

"Capt—"

"I hadn't seen my soulmark," Steve said, turning Coulson around and backing him up against the wall. "When we met. I didn't feel it form `cause I was on the ice, then I had no reason to look at my back. Wasn't until a couple weeks after you died… or whatever happened, when I was gettin' changed at the gym and someone said that it was grey, and asked what'd happened to you. Nearly killed me finding out I missed my second chance at a bonded soulmateship. So, if ya don't mind, could I maybe…" He trailed off, confidence deserting him when he remembered he was just a kid from Brooklyn, not an educated intelligence agent. "Uh. Convince you to…" He rubbed the back of his head and retreated. "Sorry. Forget it."

Before he could take more than a few steps, a hand grabbed him by the shirtfront and pulled him close.

"I won't need much convincing… Steve," Coulson said.

Steve smiled, and inclined his head.

"Definitely my handwriting," Bucky said, unable to drag his gaze from Jemma's lower back, in the small curve just above her buttocks. He restrained himself from tracing the letters of the words, though. Kind of amused that she had the lyrics of a Disney song as her soulmark. "But I'm bettin' you'll wanna see mine."

"Yes, please," Jemma said, turning around. He tried not to pout as she covered up again, and had to tell himself that he was a gentleman. A gentleman. Okay, a soldier and a former assassin, but still a gentleman to his soulmate.

When he realised what she'd said, he grinned, and then pulled his workout shirt off. Just below his navel was his soulmark, and he noticed that she went to touch it, pulling her hand back at the last minute.

"Touch all you like, doll," he said, grinning slyly when she blushed.

"Not until you make an honest woman out of her," Skye said, her arms crossed as she eyed him critically. That kind of assessing stare Natasha used on everyone.

"Skye!" Jemma hissed.

"I'm just looking out for you."

"Which is very sweet, but I can look after myself," she replied.

"Still gonna court you first," Bucky said, but he grabbed his towel from nearby and began to dry off, enjoying the way Jemma's pupils dilated. Skye's eyes narrowed, and she dragged her friend – Bucky's soulmate! – from the locker room.

"We'll meet you upstairs at the briefing," Skye said.

"Bye," Jemma said, waving, her eyes still on Bucky's glistening torso. He smirked lopsidedly, and waved back, humming cheerfully.

Was supposed to be Bucky/Jemma-centric. Hmm. This was based on an idea I had: five times the team was surprised by Steve's music choice, and one time they were surprised by Bucky's. Uh… I don't think we've had Bucky/Jemma as anything other than a background pairing so far? And Capsicoul made its way in somehow. I think I need help. *Head-desk*

Please review! I'll try to post more, I promise. It would help if I didn't have chickens wandering into my library and confusing me for the rest of the day.

No. Seriously. The library where I work? A chicken wandered in today. One of the students had to carry it out in the end, because it flew up onto a shelf, and… yeah. Not happened before. Hopefully won't happen again, but who knows?