Bucky's legs intertwined with Steve's own, he was behind him lying horizontal on the couch. His chin was rested on top of Steve's head, and his arms were firmly wrapped around Steve's waist. His fingers were held by Steve's own.

"Didn't you start off by saying you wanted to watch some television?" Steve asked, he tried to tilt his head back to look at Bucky but he only succeeded in bumping into Bucky's chin.

"And we are, we're watching the television."

"No I think you're holding me while we lie on the couch, it's different." Bucky made a sound with his mouth like he was deliberating.

"Well, let's call it multitasking." He kissed the back of Steve's head, his nose being tickled by Steve's stray hairs. "We're getting pretty good at it."

"Thanks to you we get a lot of practice, huh?" Bucky's only response to that was to hold him close to his chest, he let out a sigh of contentment.

Steve had spent three days in this strange place, and so far it had been so normal it felt routine. Each day he had woken up and Bucky had still been next to him. Each day there was excessive flirting, and romantic antics courtesy of Bucky. If Steve hadn't been told they had been together for 5 years already he would have assumed Bucky asked him out a week ago and they were still on the honeymoon phase. Despite his best efforts, it was getting harder each day to remember the promise of escape he had made to himself. This place was so perfect that he couldn't realistically force himself to want to leave.

"Ah got a text," Bucky mumbled his mouth was so close to Steve's ear that it sent shivers down Steve's spine. He pulled out his phone and put it near his face. "Aw shit, looks like something went down at the base." The heat of Bucky's body fled as soon as he sat up away from Steve. Steve turned so that he was laying on his back, he propped himself up with on elbow.

"What happened? Steve cleared his throat hoping it didn't come out too whiny. Bucky shut his phone off and looked at him with a smile.

"It's nothing really, just some mix-ups. I just need to pop in and out." He leaned over his face close to Steve's. Steve bit his lip his body naturally moving closer to Bucky's. "Don't miss me too much." He said softly. Steve fought a blush and tilted his his head away from Bucky's gaze.

"I think I'll be okay for a bit." Steve resisted looking at Bucky, he could feel Bucky's intentionally heated look.

"You sure?" He touched the back of Steve's head running his fingers through Steve's short hair. He pushed the side of his face against Steve's neck. Steve sucked in air and squirmed, he put his hands at the front of Bucky's chest and pushed gently. Not enough to push him off, but enough to state his protest.

"Bucky..." He whined still trying to wiggle out of his grasp. Bucky laughed deeply at Steve's whines but didn't move away. Steve was beginning to notice a pattern. Anytime Bucky had to go anywhere no matter the time span, he always made it a point to leave Steve flustered and needy. "If they really need you, you should go." Bucky paused in his assault, his face resting on the side of Steve's neck. He pecked Steve, right underneath his jaw and finally moved off of him.

"You're right I really should head out. I'll be back soon." He gave Steve one more fluttering kiss on the cheek before leaving. Steve waved weakly as Bucky left his sight, he was too dazed to form words. He reconciled that if he figured out the buttons on his phone he'd send Bucky some sort of message.

"Alone." Steve mumbled, the word didn't hold as much weight as it did before. No more than a few days ago alone was a loaded word. Alone included his abandonment, his feeling of isolation, his relationship with the Avengers. Now alone just meant Bucky wasn't around him at that moment. He had no doubt in his mind that as soon as Bucky returned he'd be crushed between Bucky's arms, and kissed until he couldn't breath.

The front door closed signalling Bucky's final departure. Steve fully sat up on the couch. He figured that he should use the time he had, to do some much needed exploring of the house. The likes of which would be deemed suspicious if Bucky was with him.

As he moved to stand the television turned on. Steve froze, staring at the screen. He waited, every muscle in his body tensed. The screened flipped around until it landed on a screen that read ' Learning About the Universe and More with Professor Vision'. Steve frowned he had seen this before, briefly a few days ago. Bucky had mentioned something about Vision having his own show. Steve pushed his back against the back of the couch, still tense but not yet ready to run.

Vision appeared on screen, he was his original red color with his yellow mind stone shining at the top of his head. He was wearing a blue sweater vest, standing on a stage surrounded by people, the row closest to was filled solely with children no more than eight. On the whiteboard behind him was the words Mind Stone written in all caps.

"Well hello and welcome back to, Learning About the Universe and More with Professor Vision. I'm Professor Vision and today's topic of discussion will be about my mind stone and its capabilities." He gestured to the yellow stone that appeared at the top of his head, the children oohed dramatically. "Let me start off by saying the mind stone is extremely dangerous, of course it can do many wonderful things. But mind stones and stones like it have the ability to change reality," Vision said ominously, "That's why it is very important that no one touch this stone on my head because potentially bad things can happen." A little girl raised her hand, the camera panned to her getting a close up of her face. Vision called on her, she adjusted her pigtails and began speaking.

"But Professor Vision, what happens when someone does touch your stone?" The kid was talking strangely like she was instructed to ask the question beforehand.

"Well that's an excellent question Becca. One of two things can happen. First, if someone touches my stone with an intent. That means they touch the mind stone because they want something to change. In that case the stone changes the world around them to match their perception of things." The kids in the front row gasped, looking at each other in a clearly a staged way. It was then Steve noticed that the entire perimeter around Vision was straight out of a preschool classroom, while the rest of the room looked like a college seminar.

"Can't you stop it Professor Vision?" A little boy called out, it was hard to see him with the other children covering him and hiding his face.

"Well that's what I was about to talk about next Tommy. If I am aware of their intent and my will is stronger then there's, I can block them from changing reality. And worse comes to worse if they do change reality, I have the ability to remember what the world once was and revert it back." The kids began cheering, Steve wasn't sure for what in particular but they looked happy. The camera panned around the other part of the room showing college-aged students writing quickly.

"What's the other thing that can happen Professor Vision!" A little girl yelled too loudly, she was sitting right in the front row. Steve noticed a few of the other children giving her a side eye before going back to looking cheerful and in awe.

"Well, that's when someone touches my stone passively. Even if they don't mean something still happens to them."

"But why?" Another child called out, it sounded like a boy but all the children had equally high pitched voices.

"You see when a person has something on their mind, or something that's been bothering them they wish to change the factors around them to reconcile the situation. When someone touches the mind stone knowing they want to bend reality for that purpose, the mind stone reacts accordingly. But, when the person doesn't actually want change reality to get what they want the mind stone takes action again. It teleports you inside the stone in your own version of reality, but a reality exactly the way that you would want it. Even if you're not consciously aware of what you want."

"Do people know that you're gone?" This time it was a slightly older child sitting patiently on her knees towards the back of the ring of children.

"In a way. People know that something is missing or wrong but they can't quite put their finger on it. And if that person ever returns, it feels like whatever was wrong is now fixed." A college student raised his hand, the camera panned to them getting a close up of his face. The student was called on by Vision.

"Will the world still suffer the consequences of not having that person there? An example being if the president was trapped in a mind stone created reality, would the White House still fall into panic?" The camera panned quickly away from the student and got a too close, close up of Visions smiling face.

"Oh absolutely, it's just that no one would be able to pinpoint the exact problem. It's all very situational, but there are consequences to being given the gift so to speak."

"So how do you leave one of these realities?" A college student called out. When the camera faced her she began to blush. Before the camera had time to turn back to Vision a screen popped up on the television. It was yellow with a mini image of Vision as a cartoon figure, dancing back and forth on the screen with his mini sweater vest.

"That question will be answered and much more on Learning About the Universe and More with Professor Vision. Now a message from our sponsors!" A voice on the screen said too loudly from the television.

"Crap!" Steve grabbed the remote and pressed buttons trying to speed through the commercials but only succeeding in turning the television off again. "How do I-" There was knocking on the front door. Steve looked at the door and back at the TV, he wasn't sure how long commercial breaks were but he hoped he had enough time to chat quickly with the neighbors. More knocks came. "I'm coming!" Steve called from the from the living room. He sighed, put the remote down, and went to door to answer it. As soon as he opened the door he was met with a wash of cool air, and a very familiar goateed face.

"Hey flag face, miss me?" Steve had to blink several times to make sure he wasn't imagining this encounter.

"Um, Tony?" Steve asked unsure, he took a step back and tried to hide his shock. He hadn't even thought to think that the Avengers would even be apart of this made up world. At the time he figured if they were trying to lull him into a false sense of security Bucky was enough to do that. Upon the new information Steve wasn't sure of anything anymore.

"No it's Steven Strange. Come on, let me in." Tony didn't wait for Steve to take another step back, he slid his way passed Steve's frame and into the house. Steve, still dazed closed the door slowly and just started. He looked like the regular Tony, he sounded liked him, and based off the three sentences that they exchanged, he acted like Tony too.

"Why do you look so surprised? I texted you that my flight was coming in last night." Tony took off his winter jacket and hung it on one of the jacket racks.

"Text? Oh, I probably didn't check." Steve cleared his throat he had to continue on like this was perfectly normal if he was lucky maybe he'd be hit with another flashback. Hopefully, the next one would give him a brief synopsis on the past five years.

"Of course you didn't. I should have just sent it to Bucky and told him to relay the message." Again Steve was shocked with the ease Tony said Bucky's name, no more than a few months ago Steve was worried that Tony might still try and kill him.

"Sorry, but what brings you here? I bet Pepper would prefer you catching up with her." Tony gave Steve a funny look and took his shoes off at the door.

"Uh, Steve?" Steve looked at Tony, he was leaning against the side of the couch.

"Yeah Tony?"

"Not to be too vulgar for your sake at least, but has Barnes been pushing you up against too many walls? I went away to have my five year anniversary with Pepper, she's just about sick of me at this point."Steve flushed deeply, he bit his lip and looked away from Tony. The fact that Tony knew of Bucky's wall pushing inclination only embarrassed him further.

"Uh yeah, forgot or something...but not because of wall pushing! Just bad memory I guess." He looked at Tony again his face now thoroughly red. Tony chuckled under his breath and shook his head.

"Whatever Rogers, as long as you don't start forgetting my award-winning face we're good." Tony looked towards the kitchen then back at Steve. "I know you and Barnes aren't much drinkers, but do you have any refreshments?"

"Oh!" Steve nearly smacked himself he was being a bad host already. "Yeah we have someone raspberry lemonade let me pour you a cup." He went to the kitchen area and dug around for an appropriate cup. He chose a class one and placed it on the counter. "So how was your trip to..." He opened the fridge digging around for the drink.

"Australia? It was pretty good." He heard Tony chuckling more behind him. "You really did lose a couple brain cells since I was gone huh?" Steve turned around with the lemonade in hand. He closed the fridge with his foot and smiled apologetically.

"Yeah, just been a busy week. Did you see any kangaroos?" He poured the drink into the glass and slid it towards Tony. Tony sighed deeply, he looked up at Steve with fond amusement.

"I've told you once, and I'll tell you again. Australia doesn't just have Kangaroos." Steve paused for a moment, a shy smile slipping on his face.

"But did you?" Tony rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone.

"Yeah we did, and if you swing by the tower Pepper and I picked you up something. Just forgot to bring it with me." Steve leaned over the counter at Tony's phone, he gasped seeing the adorable kangaroos.

"It doesn't get much better than this." Steve mumbled softly. Tony switched the pictures until he ran out of Kangaroo pictures to show Steve. "What amazing animals." Tony shrugged and took his phone off the counter.

"I've seen better." He slipped his phone into his back pocket and picked up the glass cup filled with lemonade. "So Bucky told me you guys decided to get help." Steve's mood deflated just a bit, he found himself looking towards the ground.

"Yeah...therapy. Bucky suggested it, I'm kinda iffy on it but Bucky really wants to try it." Steve found himself squeezing a wash cloth that was left on the countertop.

"I'm not going to lie I planted that seed in his head." Steve looked up suddenly, not sure if he was annoyed or thankful that Tony cared that much. "You can't blame me, we were all getting pretty hung up on seeing you miserable. You'd get really down for a few days, then Bucky would go out of his way to do something romantic to get you to smile. Then he'd do or say something again, and each time the gesture was more and more over the top just in an attempt to top what he did last. It was really wearing both of you down." Steve couldn't remember a word of what Tony was saying but he could remember feeling the beginnings of that in the dream dinner flashback.

"It was beginning to become a problem..." Tony raised an eyebrow, he looked like he had a few more words than what Steve described it as but kept quiet.

"Not to mention you and Bucky both have a lot of pent-up issues resulting from the war, and your lives before the twenty-first century."

"It's mainly just Bucky, he suffered the most. I don't know why everyone is so concerned about me all the time."

"See that's one of the problems. Steve just because you didn't suffer physically as much as him, doesn't mean your problems are invalid. I'm sure it's no surprise to you but you have some major self-esteem issues, not to mention your trust issues, inability to let things go, your irrational fear of Bucky leaving you every few minutes."

"Not all of that is true..." Steve bit his lip, his cheeks were turning red and he wanted to find a nice hole to crawl into.

"Well that's for you and your therapist to decide. But Steve, it's nothing to be ashamed of. I've been going to a therapist for decades now." Tony took one long drink finishing up his lemonade. "Huh, better than I expected."

"Bucky was never a fan of regular lemonade, but he really likes this stuff. So I get it for him." Steve shrugged, it didn't take long for him to figure out who did most of the grocery shopping in the house. The mini note books filled with favorite meal arrangements, and specific brand names he found in his sock drawer.

"You spoil him," Tony said standing up.

"He spoils me." Steve countered and took the cup off the counter and into the sink. Tony shrugged as if to say there wasn't much argument from him.

"Well I better be off, just wanted to stop by. Make sure I don't have to beat Barnes ass." Tony's tone sounded teasing but Steve had a feeling they've had Steve based confrontations before. Steve walked Tony to the door where he begins slipping on his shoes.

"Ah forgot to ask, how are the kids?" Steve's heart froze, he tried to keep a serene face. He had kids? That was certainly news to him, he thought he remembered his flashback self-saying something about it but he couldn't quite remember.

"Uh doing great," Steve said, hoping the generic answer would be enough to appease Tony.

"Bucky mentioned something about them giving you a hard time. You got it all sorted out?" Steve nodded eagerly not wanting to elaborate on this subject. Tony grabbed his jacket, he seemed pleased enough with the check up on the subject. "Oh one last thing, do you know where your shield is?" Steve frowned and tried to think, he hadn't thought of the status of his shield once, since coming to this dimension.

"Um..."

"Ah it's fine, I'm sure Bucky knows. He's the one who got you hooked from it. I'll just have Barnes drop it off at the tower next time he's in the area. I was thinking of putting it in the same place I keep my suits." Steve frowned and crossed his arms.

"And if I need it?"

"Steve, we've been over this. Throwing a shield at a petty criminals is a bit of overkill. If there's another Earth-threatening disturbance, you know where to find it. But since Thanos, there hasn't been a peep so I wouldn't worry about it." He opened the front door and put one foot out. "Oh and Pepper said you better visit her soon, you two have gotten so close I'm worried you're planning world domination next." Tony chuckled, melting the worried smile off Steve's face. He'd have to confront Bucky about it later.

"I could say the same about you and Bucky." They both chuckled a bit, Tony gave Steve a poor excuse for a salute.

"Well, I better be off, see you around flag face." Tony stepped out fully and closed the door behind him. Once again Steve was alone, but with many more questions than he had originally.

There was really only one place that Steve could ask all his questions to without being judged. He took a deep breath and glanced behind him. His phone was sitting alone on the small coffee table right next to the door to the basement. "It's worth a shot." He mumbled to himself and went to retrieve it.

Authors Note

Hey, guys want to start off by saying sorry there-there isn't as much fluff in this chapter, I'll be bringing the heat next time. I just wanted to take the opportunity to really establish what type of world Steve is in, so he and the audience aren't as confused.

Fun Fact: The whole thing with Visions mind stone thing is actually canon in the comic book universe. Actually the use of a cosmic cube is the reason why Steve is a Nazi right now in his comics. The cosmic cube became a sentient being and granted the wish of Red Skull who wanted Steve Rogers to be on their side of the war. So she(the cube) went back and rewrote history to make Steve a Nazi. The strange thing is Steve still has most of the same morals, he still wants to change the world for the better but as a Nazi. It might have been an interesting storyline if you know Steve's original writers weren't Jewish men, and a ton of other reasons.

Sorry for geeking out on you guys, you can expect another chapter same time next week. Thanks for reading.