A/N: This part will focus on a few POV changes just because of the way I've written some of the interactions in this section. I will label each POV throughout so you can keep track.

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Steve

We woke up in the very early hours of the following morning to the unmistakable sound of a jet outside.

Natasha groaned beside me and put the pillow over her head. "Make it stop."

I laughed and tickled her sides. "C'mon, don't you wanna see Bucky?"

"Not as much as I want to sleep." She flipped over to face me. "And not as much as I'd rather stay here and kiss you."

"Well, I'm here 24/7, Nat. But we're expected for Bucky's arrival."

She groaned again, sitting up and reaching for her shirt that was still on the end of the bed. "Fine. But you're staying with me tomorrow, ok?"

I nodded. "Deal." I decided not to point out how Bucky might become suspicious if I wasn't sleeping in our room, especially since she didn't want him to know about us.

We headed down to the main area together. Most of the gang had already gathered, and Tony was outside talking with someone on the jet.

"I can't believe he's really here," Natasha muttered to herself, crossing her arms over her chest as a breeze blew past.

I wrapped a jacket that I'd snatched from my room around her shoulders. "Here, I don't want you to be cold."

"I'm never cold with you," she said, smiling up at me.

I pressed a quick kiss to her temple. "You know there's no one I'd rather keep warm than you."

Sam groaned loudly next to us. "You're doing it again!"

"Sorry, Sam," Natasha and I said at the same time. I attempted to hide a smile behind my hand, but I didn't try very hard.

Sam grunted. "The only good thing to come out of Barnes staying with you is that I won't have to hear the two of you cringe-ily seduce each other through the connecting door."

"Aw, you're gonna miss me, Sam. And Bucky's only here until the case gets wrapped up," Natasha said.

"I know, but maybe when he leaves, the two of you will spend more time in your room instead of Steve's."

"Where's the fun in that?" she teased.

We stood together as the ramp finally descended from the jet. 

"...Woah, Shuri, are you seeing this?!" a voice said from the depths of the plane.

"Peter?" Tony asked. He started toward the ramp but paused as two figures appeared.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark, I tried to make this as easy as possible," Shuri said as she started down the ramp.

He smiled as he gazed upon the group of us.

"Hi everybody! Wow, it sure has been a while," he said, completely unfazed by the fact that it was 3 am.

"Peter, what are you doing here?" Pepper said as the brunette teenager emerged from the jet, his hand gripping a beaten-up suitcase.

"Well, it's funny you should ask. I was on my summer vacation in Wakanda visiting Shuri since we have a project for school we have to do that involves researching technology so I decided that Wakanda was the best place to do that. Then Sergeant Barnes got a call from Agent Romanoff about coming to visit the compound for some sort of big secret mission. Then Shuri and I decided that because Sergeant Barnes wanted Shuri to come with him that I would come too because well, why not, right?"

"If it's not too much trouble, Mr. Stark," Shuri quickly added, elbowing Peter in the ribs. 

"And he proudly explained his whole plan to us on the flight here," Bucky piped up, finally walking down the ramp. In his hand, he held a single blue duffle bag.

"Steve, it's good to see you," Bucky said when I walked over to him. He then locked eyes with Natasha.

"Natasha. Been a while."

"Certainly. I presume you're doing well in rehabilitation?" she asked.

Bucky nodded. "Shuri has been keeping a very close eye on my progress. Says we made a breakthrough."

"That's great." she smiled. "Did Tony tell you anything?"

Bucky shook his head. "Only that I'll be staying with Steve. But, um, can we talk for a second?"

Natasha nodded. "Sure."

I gave her a small two-finger salute as she and Bucky walked away and as Sam came up to me.

"What do you think that's about?" he asked.

"I have no idea," I said. Heat rose to my cheeks. There was no way I was actually jealous of Bucky. I couldn't be. I shouldn't be.

Natasha

We walked off to the side together. I tugged at the hem of my t-shirt, feeling exposed despite how big the shirt was on me and the fact that I was wearing my silk nightgown underneath.

"How's your ankle doing?" Bucky asked. I had told him part of the story involving Alexei, leaving out the part about my cover with Steve. He'd immediately agreed to fly out, especially since my ankle was still recovering and it had been over a month with not much improvement.

I shrugged. "It's ok, I guess. Sam is still monitoring how much I do even though I should've been cleared to be back to normal weeks ago."

"It still hurts that bad?" he asked.

I hesitated then nodded. I didn't want to worry him. "It's better than it was, but I still find it throbbing occasionally."

"How far has Tony gotten on testing the device?"

"He's making slow progress. But the tech is weird. It's nothing we've ever experienced before. It's different from what we know. Honestly, there's just a lot of unknowns right now, and until we find Alexei—"

Bucky put up a hand to stop me. "That's why I'm here. I promise we will find Alexei, ok? I'm not gonna let him hurt you again. Any other intel so far?"

"We'll debrief in the morning, but for now all I can really tell you is we have a team looking into his location and we think the device is somehow linked to..." I trailed off, wondering if I should worry him about the explosion from the previous day.

"Nat?" He waved an arm in front of my face.

"Sorry. We'll discuss the details in the morning, ok?" I said.

Bucky nodded. "Sounds good."

"Get some sleep, Bucky. And welcome to the team." I smiled and gave him another hug.

Steve

After Natasha left, I showed Bucky up to our room.

"I'm glad you're here, man," I said as we settled in.

"Me too. Listen, did Natasha say anything to you about me?" he asked.

I paused, wondering if I should tell him I knew about his past with Nat. It was probably gonna come out eventually, but I wasn't sure it was my place to say anything. "All I know is that you both knew Alexei." I hoped we could leave it at that.

Bucky nodded and started to unpack. "Just out of curiosity, you wouldn't know if she's seeing anyone right now, would you?"

I stumbled backward and hit my knee on the bed frame. "Uhm, no. I don't—that's—I wouldn't know." Yikes, I was bad at this.

Bucky gave me a look but didn't say anything.

Except I knew Bucky and I knew that look. And I also knew I was a terrible liar.

Then he glanced at my bed. "Two head imprints?"

I coughed. "You know I roll in my sleep. It's just from that. Sometimes I can't make up my mind."

He didn't say anything after that, but a text from Sam said all I needed to know: Smooth, man. He's gonna find out eventually.

Yeah, I know, I texted back. I'm just hoping for a little more time.

We went to sleep and I hoped I'd be able to keep up my charade until Nat was ready to tell him about us. And I hoped she'd be ready soon because I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to lie.