"That's not ripe."

"Hmm?"

"The mango that you've been aggressively squeezing for the past five minutes. It's not ripe."

The man you had been watching for those past minutes looked at you and then to the fruit in his hand and back to you, eyes wide and filled with confusion as to how you knew that without holding it yourself, and also why you felt the need to make sure he knew it too. "Oh! Oh, really? You sure?"

"I know that we just met," you smiled kindly, "but you should probably just trust me on this."

"Actually, we haven't met yet. Not formally, anyway," he said, hand extended in greeting. "I'm Bucky."

"(Y/N)."

"So, do you come here often?" Bucky tried, he really did, but the sound of his own voice sent him into a dizzying spin of embarrassment, and a cringe that made his stomach knot up in complete shame for his lack of tact. He used to be so much better at this back in the day. "Ugh, that was so lame. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I've said my share of lame things over the years," you readily conceded with a shrug. "And yes, I come here quite a bit. I live upstairs. Easy access, but it really sucks when I'm hungry and every option is so easy to get to."

"Yeah, our fridge is always excessive, but there's still never anything that I want. I stop by at least once a week."

"Really? It's strange that I've never seen you. I'm sure I'd remember that face."

Come on, man, you know how to do this, Bucky thought to himself. "Likewise. I'm so busy with work all the time that I don't much get the chance to step out and see anyone other than the coworkers. It's nice to see a pretty dame." He mentally smacked himself on the head at his sudden ineptitude but did his best to keep an outward appearance of confidence that he definitely lacked in the moment. Bucky found himself thankful that you hadn't turned and ran yet, if nothing else.

You chose to move on past the dated title he had bestowed on you, hoping to spare the poor guy a little embarrassment. "So, if you're here a lot, you must be nearby too?"

"Not sure if I'm comfortable giving away that secret just yet," he smirked. "I barely know you, (Y/N)." Okay, I'm back in the game.

"That's fine, no pressure," you said. Grabbing a ripe mango from the pile next to him, you held it out in offering with a gentle grin, waiting for him to take it before deciding that the guy needed a little nudge to make his move. "It was nice meeting you, Bucky."

"I'm an Avenger!" he blurted out, eyes filled with panic at the prospect of losing you before he had a chance to keep you around a little longer.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean...I- I live at the compound, just upstate. I'm...I'm an Avenger."

"I know," you whispered, looking around as if he had just given away something that everyone didn't already know. "I was just waiting for you to trust me with your secret. I didn't think I'd break you so quickly. Does the team know how easily you give it up?"

Relief filled him again, and the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears finally began to quiet as he felt just a glimmer of hope coming back. "I guess I'm just a sucker for a pretty face."

"Then I think they should definitely know that they're compromised from within. Not only are you giving away your secrets, but you're really racking up their grocery budget."

~~~

After a few more minutes of talking to your newest friend who just happened to be a superhero with terrible ability to shop for himself, you checked your grocery list for the final things you had yet to grab, only to be halted by another sight that you couldn't walk away from. Clearly, this was a big day at the corner store, and you seemed to be the only one who was catching on.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes?" the man jolted to attention, quickly shutting the door of the section he had just been deeply interested in. He had all but climbed into the shelves, and bumped his head on the way back out to see you. "Can I help you, ma'am?"

"What is Captain America doing in the frozen food section?" you smiled. "Tempting fate, or reminiscing?"

"Well, when you put it that way, I wonder which of us is the one tempting fate here."

"I'll take my chances," you answered, holding your free hand out, "I'm (Y/N)."

"Steve...but you seem to know that already."

"You're hard to miss."

"Even with my head buried in the ice cream section?"

"Yep," you nodded, taking a step closer to look at the shelves in front of him, taking inventory of the flavors and brands that he had been considering. "Something that I can help you find?"

Maybe it was the change in temperature from the cold rush of air from the freezer, or the sudden rush of blood to his cheeks in his own embarrassment, but his skin took on a flood of pink as he looked back at you, then sheepishly looking away as he answered. "Well, Ben and Jerry's made a flavor named after me, and I wanted to check it out to see if it was any good. Barton recommended it, but I don't just trust him so easily. Historically that hasn't always been the best idea for me."

"What flavor is it?"

"Oh boy," he sighed heavily, "you're gonna laugh."

"Probably, but let's have it."

"It's...Avengers... ASSemble."

"Wait, you mean to tell me that you have your own flavor and they didn't even give you any?"

"Right? Thank you!" he exclaimed, a hand up in surprise. "Stark gets his and we had to eat it every day for weeks until we ran out! How is this fair?"

"It isn't, Cap. But here," you paused, reaching down into your basket, "I just happen to have one. You can have mine. I'm friends with the owner so I can get more as soon as it comes in. If you give me your number, I can text you too." When his eyes widened at that, you took a precautionary step back, "I mean...you don't have to give me your number...that was too far...I'm sorry."

"It's fine, here, give me your phone." Steve waited for your shock to pass, taking your phone in hand and quickly putting his own information into it. He took the pint of ice cream and returned it to the freezer shelf so that neither of you would buy it without the other. "Besides, I think I'd rather try it with someone else there for moral support. What if it's not good? I don't think that I could face that hit to my ego alone."

Taking your phone back into shaking hands, you smiled at the idea, turning to leave but not without one quick glance at the ice cream's namesake. "Come on, Cap, of course it's going to be good. That's America's ass."

~~~

One by one, you set your items down on the conveyor belt of the checkout lane, making one final run through your list to be sure that everything was there. You could easily just stop back down again later if you'd forgotten anything, but every trip to the store left you at risk for buying more than you needed.

"Hello, (Y/N)," the young man at the register greeted, "how are things today?"

"Very interesting. You'll never believe who I ran into."

"I bet I would. They stop in and try to go about their business like they're normal guys just doing errands, but come on, they can't be serious, right?" He continued on about the barely exciting escapades of Avenger shopping, the scanner beeping with each of your items as they passed through his hands. When he finally came to the end, you reached into your pocket for your bank card, but it wasn't there.

"Oh, shit," you grumbled, searching your other pockets and your bag desperately, "I had it, I know I did."

"Did you leave it upstairs?"

"Probably. Sounds about right with how my day has been going."

"I can just hold onto this stuff if you want to go up and check," he offered. "I trust you to come back."

"Just put it on mine," came a new voice from behind you, "let's keep things moving, I've got a meeting in ten minutes."

"Then why are you shopping now?" you snapped back, turning to see who the pushy but oddly generous man was, only to be shocked into silence when you put it together. "Mr. Stark...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound rude..." you paused, introspectively, "actually, yes I did. You started it, so I guess I stand by my question."

"If you must know," Tony sighed, exasperated, "I needed to grab a snack to survive the aforementioned meeting, so I hitched a ride with Spangles and the One-Armed Wonder only to get caught up in arguing about melons and the search for some magical ass-flavored ice cream or something. I just want to leave, so here, put it on my card."

"You do realize that you would've saved time by just helping them, right?"

"Where's the fun in that?" he shrugged.

"S'pose you have a point, and it did give me a chance to meet them and actually be a decent human being for once."

"For once?" Tony finally smiled, genuinely entertained by the turn of events. "Are you not normally decent? Do I have to worry about whose side you're on? I really hope not, we already have too many occupational hazards."

"I'm harmless, Mr. Stark. All I did was squeeze a melon or two and sneak a peek at Cap's assets."

"Please, call me Tony," he extended a hand, "if I'm buying your groceries it's the least you could do."

"You don't need to do that," you insisted, "I'm sure that I left my card upstairs in my apartment-"

"Nonsense, it's done," he waved dismissively. "But, let's make a deal. If you're set on repaying me, do you think you could come by for dinner tonight? Can you cook?"

"I can hold my own."

"Hmm, if you can pull this off, I'll hold your own."

"You had to make it weird," you huffed, taking your bagged groceries from the clerk. "Alright, Tony, you've got a deal. Any requests?"

Stark furrowed his brow as he considered his options, finding that in the moment when he could ask for pretty much anything at all that he could want, nothing came to him. He was so caught up in getting to know more of you this evening that dinner wasn't even really a concern to him; it was the means to an end of getting you upstate. "Nope, chef's choice. Just plan on making a lot to fill the trough for the pigs. It's a hot mess at feeding time. See you tonight, (Y/N)."

~~~

The three Avengers each finished their shopping and gathered outside of the corner grocery store, ready to head their separate ways to finish their days before reconvening back at the compound for the evening. Each of them watched as you walked around to the side of the building and unlocked the door, taking the stairway up to your apartment; they waited for the light to come on and for the telltale click of the lock closing on your door before turning to each other to take their leave, not realizing that they had all been waiting for the exact same thing.

"So, I met the nicest lady today," Bucky began, "I've never seen her here before, but I tell ya, I think I'll be visiting this shop more often now. She tried to teach me how to pick ripe fruit but I really couldn't pay attention to what she was saying."

"I met someone too," Steve joined in, "really sweet girl. I got her number...or actually...she got mine. Man, I hope she calls, I guess I didn't plan that out very well. I think I invited her to have ice cream...named after my ass?"

"You dumbasses screw up getting a date and I had to pay for a girl's groceries just to get a real meal cooked for us tonight. How is that fair?"

"You're rich, Stark, you won't even miss it."

"True, but because I'm rich, I'm getting the girl while you two figure out how to pull your heads from your asses...ice cream flavored or not." Tony turned his wrist to check his watch, only to find that he had all but missed the meeting he had been determined to get to until you came into his sights. "Alright, kids, I'm late, so I'll catch you at dinner. Too bad you guys screwed up so bad today or we could've all met up for a triple date. Better luck next time."

Tony turned and left, leaving the other two friends standing silently in the middle of the busy sidewalk, looking at each other as the revelation grew in their minds. "Buck," Steve said first, "you don't think..."

"That we all met the same girl?"

"Yeah."

"No way," he said definitively. "The three of us are way too different, right? What are the chances?"