I was curious as to what I could do with the idea of a soulmate alternate universe and this is what came out.

It is MCU compliant from CA:WS and A:AofU. After that, I changed a couple of things to make the story work a bit better for the plot. I've tried to explain the differences in the first two chapters and after that it's mostly story. The story is written in multiple parts: the fun of the three of them getting to know each (includes sexy time) and then the bad guy showing up (includes violence) which continues throughout till the end.

FYI: Rumlow is hate-filled and cruel…just the way he should have been after what happened to him in DC. You'll see that when he finally shows up. Other Avengers will make appearances, not all (it's not their story). I'm not going to spoil who else I pull into the story as bad guys, you'll just have to read to find out.

The story is fully complete (and long). I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think.

An Almost Meeting

Early November, 2016

"Steve...how much longer until Tony gets down here?" Bucky asked into the earcom as he made yet another circular lap around the polished lobby of Stark Tower. Or was it Avengers' Tower? It changed depending on what kind of mood Tony was in that day, causing multiple funny arguments within the entire group.

"He's still working on some contraption, but Pepper is on the way to his lab to get him now. Why? Are the reporters getting restless?" Steve replied from the common room many floors above his head, listening in on his own earcom.

"Not too bad, so I guess they are used to this type of treatment from Tony, but I'm getting bored," Bucky said nodding once again to the ladies who worked the welcome / information desk.

Every time he passed by on his security sweep, they would give him little coy smiles but there was something about them that just annoyed him. Maybe it was their too high pitched laughs at the least funniest things that people said to them. He could remember dames like them from before, the kind who would fall all over him and totally ignore Steve. Had he really been interested in dames like that?

"I warned you before you headed down there that it was pointless to do so until Pepper came and retrieved him. Tony hates having to do stuff like this," Steve said to which he only gave him a grunt reply. Being down here was at least something to do, he figured. Even though FRIDAY was scanning everyone that entered the building for weapons and the regular security guards in the silly tailored suits were working, he needed to do something besides sitting upstairs waiting.

Sometimes being here at the Tower, he would get anxious, feeling like he needed to be somewhere or do something, not just sitting upstairs until a mission came around. It didn't happen often, but when it did…he just had to go, do something, anything…even laps around the lobby. He noticed that Steve would get the same way, a restlessness, and they would take a few laps around the park to help get rid of it. Sometimes, he would go to the park alone, or at least Steve liked to make him think he was alone. The Punk thought that he didn't notice him following him, feeling like he needed to watch and guard him. He just let him keep on thinking that until the day he had finally stopped.

The meandering reporters waiting for the press conference were mixing in with the usual flow of working people trying to come and go through the main lobby doors. For security purposes, the side entrances were locked off and would not be accessible until the conference was over…if it would ever begin. This meant that a lot of people were crossing paths and taking up a lot of floor area that was used to move around in.

Bucky was not dressed to fit in with the normal employees in the building, staying a bit more on the casual side with dark jeans, long sleeve shirt, gloves, combat boots, and a hat pulled down over his face. He realized that it was a bit pointless since he was not actually in hiding anymore but old habits die hard. It did seem to work at giving him a bit of peace though since none of the reporters had recognized him, and if they did, they were staying away. Just like he wanted. He had made it clear on numerous occasions that he did not like interviews, and the reporters, who wanted them, even less. Let Steve handle them. They loved Captain America who was always nice to them. Probably too nice.

Ever since coming to the Tower in January to live, he had tried to acclimate to the strange new life that Steve had. His training had tried to keep him up to date with most technology but the culture fell short. But his new 'job' of playing the part of hero…that was still too new for him, with all of the villain memories swirling around. Then, there were the times that it reminded him of during the war and following Steve across Europe going after HYDRA bases, and that helped to make it a bit easier.

If it wasn't for Wanda helping him sort through the jumble mess that was his memories, and being able to remove those evil trigger words, he probably wouldn't be here at all. He would have kept running, no matter what Steve would have wanted. But after the third time that HYDRA had tracked him down and almost retaken him, he knew that it was going to be impossible to stay hidden from them, so he did the next best thing: go to Steve and the Avengers, which would put him right out in the open where they couldn't get to him.

The others had been mostly accepting of him, with the largest strain still being between him and Tony, with good reason. Their association had started off with arguing, as in Tony yelling at him…moved to ignoring each other, as in him avoiding Tony…and now they were at the point where Tony would at least acknowledge him with a nod if they passed in the hall. Better than it had been when he got here, he knew, and definitely better than being captured by HYDRA again.

Steve had told Tony about his parents being targeted and assassinated by HYDRA after he and Natasha had found the information in the bunker with Zola. But the shock had been when Tony learned who had killed his parents. His father's old friend thought long dead, as well as his new friend and teammate's soulmate.

The information dump that came from the SHIELD/HYDRA files had been classified and encrypted but with Natasha's help, most of the ones concerning him had been removed from the internet. The recovered paper files stored upstairs were very thorough about his time as the Asset, not just his missions, but his conditioning. Over and over, Tony had told Steve that scientifically he understood what had been done to him, but that emotionally he needed more time.

Hearing the sound of a raised male voice, Bucky turned towards the front entrance's automatic doors to see what was going on. Passing around the annoying reporters who did not even care about the disturbance, he was able to see that one of the suit-wearing guards had stopped a bicycle messenger that had entered the lobby.

He could instantly tell why. The normal side door that the messengers used to drop off packages and letters had been one of the doors locked off for security reasons until after the conference. Just outside of it was a secure area where they could leave their bikes while they went to the desk to get their required signatures showing delivery and dropping off their packages.

Right now, they were having to leave their bikes outside of the main door where they were not guarded from being stolen, so they could only be secured with a personal lock. It looked like this messenger had taken it upon himself to use a different form of protection against theft, as he had lifted the thin bike over his left shoulder and was attempting to walk it across the lobby to the desk to deliver his package. The guard did not look like he was going to allow that to happen.

"I don't care! You will take that thing back outside. Now!" the guard was saying as he got close enough to hear the details of their conversation. Bucky was also within range so that with Steve's hearing, he was able to listen to everything through the earcom.

"Is there a problem, Bucky?" Steve asked worriedly.

"Not really. One of the guards is being a bit of a prick," Bucky said still moving forward towards the two, just in case.

"No…I am going to do my job and drop this envelope off. If you have a problem with that then maybe in the future you'll think about not locking us messengers out during business hours. Now…if you'll excuse me," the biker panted out while trying to sidestep the guard.

Making sure that the messenger was not really a threat, Bucky took a good look at him. Tennis shoes, dark grey sweats with no bulges of hidden weapons, bulky hooded jacket, goggles to protect his eyes, a funny looking boxy hat with the company logo printed on it. Nothing that he felt that concern about, even considering he was carrying a bike.

"Not going to happen, buddy," the guard said before taking his hand and giving the yellow hat with white wings an upwards flick of his fingers in a show of abuse of his authority just a bit. Bucky knew that right then that the guard was just being a bully because he could. He should never have raised a hand at a civilian, even if it was a simple gesture.

"Really?" the bike messenger stated firmly, with a very strong snarky tone. With that, he then suddenly gave out four very loud, very quick whistles that would put anyone else on the New York streets trying to get a taxi to shame. The high pitch tones not only made Bucky wince, but he could hear Steve complaining from the earcom. The piercing sound finally managed to turn the head of every reporter in the lobby.

"Bucky…what is going on down there?" Steve asked concerned as Bucky then heard someone else in the lobby telling people to move out of his way.

"I'm not sure yet. Hold on," Bucky said as he turned to the new voice coming towards the incident. As the crowd parted, he saw Happy Hogan walking firmly toward the bike messenger and guard, commanding people out of his way.

"What's going on?" Happy asked arriving to stand next to the messenger and guard. Bucky quickly moved in a better position to see and hear, but held back just behind a banner suspended from an easel. He could see what was going on and was close enough to interfere if he needed to, but was not attracting attention to himself.

"I'm sorry, Sir, this person refuses to leave. I was trying to get him out…" the guard began before being interrupted by Happy, who held up a single finger to silence him.

"I wasn't speaking to you," Happy said to the guard before turning to look at the messenger.

"Person? Listen here buddy…see this bike…see this bag…see this silly little hat with wings on it?" the messenger said pointing to each item as it was listed off, "This person is a messenger that you are preventing from doing their job," the biker said before turning to Happy while jerking a thumb in the guard's general direction and saying, "New guy?"

Bucky couldn't help but give a slight laugh at the comment about a hat with wings as he pictured Steve's costume.

"Yes. How have you been?" Happy said putting his hand on the messengers shoulder to guide him as he and the messenger began to walk away from the guard towards the information desk, leaving the guard standing in a stunned silence. Even Bucky was a bit confused.

As they walked further away from where Bucky was hiding he lost their conversation due to the loudness of the crowd.

"I heard that," Steve said through the earcom.

"Which part?" Bucky asked.

"The wings comment followed by your laughing," Steve sounded a bit happier than usual. He knew it had to be from hearing him laugh. Even he knew that it had been a long time since he had done so, but even being here with Steve he still didn't feel whole. And Steve was always easy to read when it came to seeing him acting like his old self.

"Couldn't help it," Bucky said as he continued to watch Happy and the messenger talk as one of the girls signed for the package.

As they then walked back towards the main door, Bucky watched as the messenger focused his glare on the guard, who was also glaring back, then raised his two fingers in a V sign, one that he recognized as the British version of flipping the bird, which roused another chuckle from him. Had it really been so long since anyone had amused him?

Walking through the doors, the messenger then placed the bike on the ground, flipping the kickstand so it could stand on its own. But what he was not expecting was the messenger then taking a closer step towards Happy. At first he was expecting an attack, but then the biker leaned over and gave Happy a quick peck on the cheek, startling Bucky a bit, but eliciting a grin from Happy. They talked for a moment more before Happy waved goodbye as he turned to head back into the Tower.

As Happy then walked into the lobby, Bucky stepped out from his secluded spot and got Happy's attention by snapping his fingers, gesturing for him to come over. Happy was still with a wide grin on his face as he sauntered over towards Bucky.

"Hey there, Mr. Barnes," Happy said lifting his hand in a gesture of hello, keeping just out of arms reach. He knew that Happy was still hesitant around him but at least he tried to be nice.

As Bucky pulled the earcom out, he asked, "Happy, did that guy just kiss you?", knowing what was going to happen.

"What!?" he heard Steve practically scream through the small ear device he was holding in his hand. Now that that was over, he replaced the piece into his ear.

"What guy?" Happy said looking around confused, but his eyes failed to fall on the bike messenger until Bucky gave a point with his finger in his direction. Happy then responded with a heart-felt laugh. Bucky thought that the reaction was a bit strange until… "That is no man."

Looking back towards the door, Bucky watched as the bike messenger was removing the silly winged hat, which had been slightly misaligned due to the guard's tap, allowing a full head of white-blond hair to fall past his…no wait…her shoulders and down her back.

Staring at the person, he reexamined his initial assessment of the biker. The shoes were of a smaller size than a man's, the bulky winter clothing could easily hide a slimmer frame, and the goggles would hide feminine eyes. How she got all of that hair under the small biking hat he didn't know, but as he watched her begin to give it a unique twisting motion, she was able to sweep it back up under the cap, making it disappear once again. It made him gain an appreciation for her ability with hair. He knew the struggle of dealing with the messy stuff.

"That's Vic," Happy said but as soon as the name left his mouth, he must have realized how it sounded. "Short for Victoria. She's worked as a bike messenger since near the beginning of the year. I met her when she first ran the route after starting with the messenger company. She's great."

Bucky watched as Victoria hopped on the bike and headed off, not bothering to look back at the building. He turned as he registered Happy's words.

"She's great? You hate everybody," Bucky said not believing what he was hearing.

"I don't hate everybody...I just take into account that most people could be a security risk. Vic is cool," Happy said as he put his hand up to his own earcom, listening on another channel to the suit guards.

Bucky turned as the arrival of the private elevator was marked by Tony's favorite song, Iron Man, beginning to play through the large lobby, his preferred way of announcing the arrival of 'The Tony Stark' to the waiting reporters, who collectively moved like cattle towards the now opening doors.

Once Tony had exited, Bucky watched as Steve emerged behind Pepper wearing his full uniform, bringing a smile to his face as he saw his cap. A silly little hat with wings on it. That comment had definitely made his day. And he couldn't wait to tell the others about it. It had been a while since he had been able to pick on Steve.