A/N: Hey, everyone! I got these prompts from people about life in Avengers Tower and am finally getting around to writing them! I hope to update every day, but may miss a day here or there. They aren't in any sort of order, so you can jump in where ever you want. Some are more serious than others, but are better than accepting the Civil War, right? Enjoy!

1. Non-Lethal Competition, Part I

Bucky does not like the idea of leaving Avengers Tower. He hasn't been there very long, but the others are restless and need to blow off some steam. Apparently, attacks from otherworldly creatures or plots from evil organizations do not happen enough for some of the residents. But he remembers enough about Steve to know that getting him to lighten up is an important job, one he must remember to do frequently or the little guy (big guy) will be unbearable.

So when Stark's kid, Tony, suggests they all go out clubbing (not the violent reference he initially thinks), he throws in with him. Much to everyone's surprise.

"See, even the Summer Sergeant wants to go," Tony says triumphantly.

Natasha rolls her eyes. "Maybe he's not the most reliable person to consult," she suggests dryly, but she gives Bucky a wink.

He smiles.

"Come on, guys, it'll be fun! Cap, you can bring your favorite super-spy. It can be a date," Tony continues, grinning.

"It could make for an enjoyable evening, Steven," Thor suggests, turning to look at his friend. Steve is frowning, looking as serious as ever.

Tony claps Thor on the shoulder, delighted at the support. "You and Jane, me and Pepper, Cap and Sharon," he pauses for a moment, then grins mischievously. "That Soviet Union over there," he adds, waving toward Bucky and Natasha.

A laugh is startled out of Steve at that, while Natasha adopts a mock-indignant expression.

"Excuse me, Stark, but I don't recall agreeing to making your triple date a quadruple one," she tells him.

"Yeah, I'm sure you hate dancing," Tony teases.

She tosses her hair, hands on her hips, and turns to look at Steve appraisingly. "Well, Cap, you're in charge here."

Steve hides his smile, but Bucky can tell it's difficult for him. He and the ex-Russian spy are surprisingly close, all things considered. After realizing all eyes are on him, Steve adopts his Captain America face. It's familiar, and Bucky is struck with the thought of seeing it before, during the war, where the evening's entertainment was concerned. Something about the boys wanting to go to the bar before Steve was quite done debriefing them. He wonders if Steve has the same memory.

"Alright, fine, let's go have some fun," Steve relents at last.

"Great! I know of the perfect place. Very discreet. Go call your lady friends, and we can pick them up," Tony says happily.

The three men quickly leave the living room to get ready, leaving Bucky alone with Natasha. He glances up at her, perched on the back of the couch by the window, and clears his throat. Watching the others, she turns her attention to him and smiles.

"Do you want to go?" he asks quietly.

She shrugs. "I do love to dance. Not sure how he knew that," she adds, wrinkling her nose in Tony's direction. "But I do. Come on, let's go find you something appropriate to wear." She gets to her feet and he looks down at himself, supposing that sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt are not the right attire for many activities. Comfortable, though. But Nat's great with clothes, so he doesn't mind following her.

An hour later, they are at a club. All of them are dressed up, though he wouldn't say formally. Jackets and/or vests, but not the kind of thing he would wear to, say, a ballet (another kind of dancing). Natasha and the other ladies are all wearing dresses, though sleeker and showing more skin than a formal setting would likely require. And sneakers, which look oddly more fitting than heels would. He's wearing gloves to cover up his left hand, somewhat concerned to be out in public with it. It's certainly noticeable to the touch. And as discreet as Tony considered this place, they have plenty of company.

There are easily fifty other people in the room, perhaps closer to a hundred. It's hard to get a good picture, with the lights flashing and the music (if you can call it that) deafening him. Still, he spots four exits, but the surging crowd makes none of them predictably available. Perhaps understanding what he's thinking, Steve stands a little closer on his left while Natasha slips her arm through his right.

Glancing over their party, he feels a sense of relief at the thought that he is far from the least comfortable in this environment. Thor is smiling, watching the crowd, but his girl, Jane, looks quite nervous. Until she looks at Thor and he squeezes her hand. Then she smiles, too. Pepper wears an unusually stoic expression, given the situation, but her feelings quickly become clear when Tony drags her into the crowd and starts dancing. If the others in the room are any indication, he's pretty good. Pepper is a little stilted in her movements, but not bad. Both Sharon and Natasha look quite at ease, but he supposes that may be more because of their training as spies than their true feelings.

"Well, let's get this over with," Steve mutters toward Bucky before taking Sharon by the hand and leading her shyly onto the dance floor. It's apparent that Steve still isn't quite used to his size, or comfortable in his own skin, but he does alright. Sharon seems adept, and he soon relaxes enough to follow her lead.

Thor and Jane join in when Steve does, though neither of them are particularly gifted with this talent, and Bucky turns his attention to Natasha.

"You ready to show them the ropes?" he asks her, smiling.

A confident smirk, like a cat would smile, crosses her face as she pulls him forward, down the three steps to the dance floor. "Always," she replies.

The music is different – not like the Glen Miller Orchestra (his favorite) or other big bands whose names he has long forgotten. The dancing is different – not the carefully choreographed steps of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. But some things never change. He was good at this, he remembers. Good at mimicking, good at doing what the others were doing, good at adding a bit of his own flair to make a girl want to stick around. Now, he's had years of training of getting his body to do exactly what he wants. Not for this purpose, of course, (he's sure none of his missions required anything like this), but it works out to his favor.

And Natasha – well, she's clearly a born dancer. Anyone could see that from watching her fight. They make a good pair, and he decides this is definitely as fun as Tony made it sound. He lets himself be swept up in the movements, in the music, in watching Natasha, and doesn't notice right away that people are edging away from them.

When he does notice, his first thought is defensive and he looks for the exits again. Then he realizes that the crowd is splitting to make room for them, not out of fear, but because of their dancing. If he were Steve, he would have been too embarrassed to continue. Past Bucky might have reveled in the attention, despite being uncomfortable with it. He is neither of them, so he doesn't react after the initial shock. He likes dancing, so he continues. How others might feel about it doesn't concern him particularly.

Until someone grabs his shoulder, the left one, and he reacts. The unfamiliar man goes flying back several feet (not nearly as far as he might have if Bucky hadn't restrained himself), and the crowd's mood immediately changes. Natasha gets him out of there before anyone else can do anything stupid, and he can't help but wonder if that's why she was brought along in the first place. That feels like bitterness, though, especially when she takes his hand and tells him it's okay.

The rest of the party joins them more slowly – Steve and Sharon, then Thor and Jane, Tony and Pepper last because they were doing what they could to calm the crowd – and she releases his hand and moves a little further away.

"I think that went well," Tony says lightly as he starts the car and turns it toward home.

Pepper makes a politely incredulous sound, glancing back toward them.

"What did that guy want, anyway?" Jane asks quietly, looking at her hands as if uncertain of her welcome here. Thor takes her hand and smiles at her.

"A picture, I think," Steve offers, looking as dour as ever. Mission to get Steve to lighten up: failure.

"I thought you said that place was discreet," Natasha grumbles, seeming actually angry at Tony.

Tony doesn't like that, of course. "If you're implying that I set that up so your Soviet boyfriend would stop upstaging me, you are quite mistaken," he says with a delicate sniff. "My pride would never be wounded by the fact that some guy frozen in ice for seventy years can dance better than me," he adds, and everyone laughs, even Steve.

Bucky smiles and considers that maybe the mission wasn't a total failure.