"Sitting with a pretty girl is usually fun," Steve said, turning his gaze back to the TV but watching Bucky out of the corner of his eye.

"What, were you spying on me or something?" Bucky asked, looking at him. He crushed the thought that floated through his mind that maybe they didn't trust him by himself yet.

"I stopped by the shop to see if you were there, and Gemma told me you had gone out to coffee with Kenzie," Steve said with a shrug. "So I guess if you count that as spying."

That made Bucky pause.

"You went to see the one that doesn't like us?" he asked.

"Yeah," Steve said with a little shrug. "She's not so bad, really. It's just a big change for her."

"I could feel her glare on the back of my head when I left the shop," Bucky pointed out. "That seems a little different than 'a big change.'"

Steve shrugged. "She may not like you yet, but give her time, I bet she will."

Bucky studied Steve for a moment. Steve was entirely too sure of that.

"So how long did you chat with her?" he asked after a second or two.

"A little bit," Steve said elusively, in part because he'd been there longer than he wanted to admit.

"Uh huh," Bucky said, looking skeptical. "How long is a 'little bit?'"

"An hour or so," Steve said with a shrug. "Not as long as you, apparently."

Bucky shrugged.

"The coffee lasted a while," he said. The faintest trace of a smirk appeared on his face. "An excuse I bet you don't have."

Steve grinned at that. "We had tea," he said. "It wasn't half-bad. Not coffee, but not bad."

Bucky wrinkled his nose a bit at that. He wasn't a big fan of tea, really, and he had no idea how people drank it all the time.

Steve snickered at that look. "Did you eat while you were out?" he asked, because occasionally he still had to remind Bucky that yes he did have a heightened metabolism and yes he did have to eat.

"Some," Bucky replied. Hey, it wasn't a lie. He did eat a little bit. "A pastry." Damn it, he didn't want to actually say that aloud.

Steve grinned. "You always did have a sweet tooth, even though you never admitted it," he said. "Get some real food, jerk, and come watch the end of the game."

Bucky made a bit of a face at him, but went to forage in the fridge for something to eat that was more substantial than a pastry. Steve was right, he needed real food.

Steve just grinned and settled on the couch, content. Bucky was more like Bucky than he had been in a while, and he had a feeling it had some to do with Kenzie.

Bucky came back out a little while later with a sandwich and a soda. Water would have been healthier, but his metabolism would burn through the soda quick enough that it didn't matter. He settled down on the couch next to Steve.

Steve settled in a little more when Bucky joined them again, content.

It was a week or so before he brought up a subject he'd been debating on for a bit, though.

"Hey, Buck, you should bring her by sometime."

That made Bucky stop what he was doing.

"What?" he asked, blinking.

"Kenzie. You should bring her by. I know the rest of the team wants to meet her." Steve shrugged. "And you've been spendin' a lot of time with her."

Bucky raised an eyebrow.

"You'd bring a dragon into this crowd?" he pointed out.

"We've already got Thor," Steve pointed out reasonably. "I mean, if you really don't want to, you don't have to ask her, but I bet she'd enjoy herself."