"Make me look awesome for the lady at the front desk," Sam said, waggling his eyebrows and grinning. There was a lot more to it than just that, of course, but he wouldn't say that yet.

That made Bucky snicker.

"I see how it is," he said.

"You'd do wonders for my cred with her," Sam said, still grinning. "Never know, you might even have some fun."

Bucky snorted.

"Steve'll be there if I have to push him there myself," he said, grinning a bit.

Steve just looked fondly exasperated, because Bucky had always been pushy but at least he was having fun.

"Excellent." Sam glanced at his watch. "And it's time for me to be getting home. Here." He left a card on the table with the address and phone number of the VA, along with his name.

Bucky carefully reached out with his good hand and picked up the card. His metal hand would never have been able to do it, he knew, so he would rather save himself the humiliation of trying.

Sam shot them both one last grin and headed back to his apartment to take a shower before heading in to work.

Steve peered at the card before looking at Bucky. "What do you think?"

"I think you need to get your patriotic ass to the VA sometime this week," Bucky replied absently, glancing at the card. "He seemed alright. Nothing unexpected regarding threat assessment."

Steve snorted a bit. "And why should I have to go and not you?" he asked, and no, he totally was not pouting about that.

That made Bucky pause and look at him.

"I doubt they'd want someone like me there," he said, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Someone like you," Steve repeated, his voice flat. "Bucky... First off, he didn't just invite me, and second, if I'm going, you should go too."

"I'm not just Bucky, Steve," he growled, slipping a bit closer to being Barnes than Bucky. "You think anyone at the VA wants a Soviet assassin dropping in?"

"You're not just a Soviet assassin either," Steve pointed out. But he decided to relent a little. "Fine. I'll go the first time, see how it is. And after that you should come with me, at least once."

"We'll see," Bucky said, settling back into his chair a bit. He held his coffee in his good hand, not trusting himself not to crush it in his metal one at the moment. After a moment, he managed to crack a bit of a grin. It wasn't his normal carefree grin, but he was trying. "You should definitely go, though. I bet they'll all like seeing you there."

Steve smiled a bit. "It'll be awkward," he said, although he wasn't protesting. "Although I've never been to a VA." It was certainly something to consider. At least he could show up in casual clothes.

"They can't not like you," Bucky said, grinning a bit. The grin was more genuine this time. "I don't think it's actually possible for someone not to like you. It'll be fine."

"We can find someone who doesn't like me," Steve said, though he was trying not to grin. "But it'll be worth it to see Sam's face."

"Then go tomorrow," Bucky said. "See what all's going on." Though Bucky wasn't going to join him, not yet. He was pretty sure none of the veterans at the VA would appreciate seeing him there.

"We'll see." But Steve smiled a little. It was a decent plan, anyway. He'd see how things were going tomorrow.

Bucky nodded and drank his coffee. It had cooked enough that he could do more than just sip it.

About a week later, after his second VA meeting and third coffee with Sam, Steve decided to try something.

"Y'know, if you wanted, I could get you into Avengers Tower so you could meet the rest of the group."

Sam blinked.

"Say again?" he said. "Because it sounded like you just invited me to meet the Avengers."

Steve grinned. "I did," he said. "That's exactly what I just did. Bucky likes you, and I'm sure the rest of the group will too."

Sam blinked.

"Are you even allowed to do that?" he asked. "Just bring some random guy back to meet a bunch of superheroes?"

"I don't see why not," Steve said with a bit of a grin. "They'll be fine with it. Actually they'll be happy, Tony is always trying to make me meet people."