There's a wall in the lobby of S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters. It's glossy black marble, covered in names of fallen S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Every few months, a man comes in to carve a new name at the bottom.
The first time Steve saw the wall, Natasha was giving him a tour of the headquarters. Steve stared at it for about three minutes. At first, Natasha just figured he was being respectful. Then he pointed to a name. It was high up on the wall, one of the first ones there.
"Bucky wasn't a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent," he'd said. His voice hitched a little over Bucky's name.
Natasha had shrugged. "Peggy Carter insisted on it."
Steve made that sad half-smile of his. "Of course she did."
He stared at the wall for another minute. He reached up and ran his finger over Bucky's name, pain echoing throughout his eyes.
It was then that Natasha realized that there had been something more than friendship between Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes.
It's a tradition for Steve now. Whenever he leaves for a mission, he runs his finger over Bucky's name on the wall, for good luck. Which doesn't really make sense, considering how Bucky's last mission turned out, but Steve tries not to think about that.
Instead, Steve thinks about the good times. He thinks about the tiny apartment they shared in Brooklyn, where the heat was out half the time and the roof always leaked and the walls creaked from the wind.
It was home. They were poor, but they were happy.
And, most importantly, they were together.
