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It's pretty obvious Steve and Bucky aren't normal guys. Jason gets that, he understands so it seems pretty fair that they don't have normal friends.
Jason just thought the Avengers would be a little more put together and grown up. Like Superman or something. Not that he's complaining.
He meets Sam first.
Around his first week living with Steve and Bucky, Jason found out they're the type of people to go running. At 6AM. Which is, in Jason’s professional opinion, completely nuts.
So when the invitation first came, Jason declined. Because he's just not an early riser. But as the weeks went on and Jason rolled out of bed later and later (he didn't get to do this when he was a teenager, let him live), some people (Steve) thought it was kind of unhealthy. Which is really just a load of shit.
Still, when Steve woke Jason up at the ass crack of dawn saying that Jason was coming running this morning, Jason couldn't exactly say no. Like, they'd put up with him for two weeks now and didn't bug him about all his obvious baggage, really there was no way around it.
And that's when he met Sam.
Or rather, he straggled behind Steve and Bucky as they appeared to harass just a normal guy out on his jog.
At the fourth or fifth ‘on your left, on your right’ this guy was subjected to, he just screamed. Which is exactly what Jason would do in his situation (honestly he was nearing it, the amount of times these bastards had lapped him was embarrassing).
“Can you guys just for once!” The guy yells as he collapses to his knees. Steve and Bucky find it absolutely hilarious and are near enough wheezing when Jason cautiously approaches, panting and sweating along with the guy.
“J-Jay” Bucky tries to say between giggles. “This is Sam, the slowest runner in the world” Both Steve and Bucky crack up again and Sam rolls his eyes.
“Nice to meet you” he says, standing back up. “You wouldn't be able to tell but this happens every damn morning.” He jerks his thumb to Steve and Bucky. “Damn super soldiers.”
“Uh, why don't you just run somewhere else?” Jason asks.
“Because then it's not fun” chimes in Steve, finally done laughing but still with a wide grin across his face.
“Pretty sure you just like beating me but whatever” Sam turns back to Jason. “So they finally dragged you out, huh?”
“Yeah, Steve said sleeping in is unhealthy”
“So is jumping out a helicarrier but he still does that”
Steve’s cheeks turn red and Bucky snorts behind him.
“Don't think you're free Barnes, I got all the dirt on you!” Sam states and Bucky’s smile drops. “You're gonna have to dig up some dirt on them if you're ever going to get your way” he stage whispers to Jason. “Don't worry though, I can give you a run down” Jason grins and sticks his tongue out at Steve and Bucky. In a totally not childish way of course.
Sam laughs at him and squeezes his shoulder.
“I like you, much nicer than these two clowns. C’mon I'll take you to get a bear claw seeing as some people can't appreciate their nutritious value”
“They're basically doughnuts” Steve groans.
“Nope, nope, you are completely wrong, screw you guys, let's go Jason”
And so Jason let's Sam drag him away and buy him a bear claw and listens to him complain about the dumbass things Steve and Bucky do and how he can hold it over their heads.
And it sort of becomes routine, they run together, Steve and Bucky run ahead and laugh and Jason and Sam complain about how unfair it is then guilt Steve into buying them bear claws.
(Jason only actually finds out later on that Sam’s Falcon when he mentions Avenger business over breakfast.
“Wait, you're actually Falcon?”
“Yep, best damn bird too, way better than that Robin kid hanging around the Batman in Gotham” )
-
Then Natasha comes in.
Literally, she walks right into the apartment as Jason sits on the couch watching TV. She's got a bag of groceries in one arm, a stack of books in the other and she lets herself in with her own set of keys because Steve and Bucky locked the door behind them when they left for the VA with Sam.
“Who are you” she demands the minute she spots Jason. Jason’s head snaps up, he'd barely heard anyone come in.
“I'm Jason” he replies dumbly because that's all he's really got. She cocks an eyebrow and sets the groceries down.
“That doesn't answer my question”
“I'm, uh, living here for a bit?” Jason doesn't know why he turns that into a question. It's probably the stare she's giving him, cold, hard and calculating. It reminds him a bit of Tim.
“Where are Steve and James?”
“They went to the VA”
She stares at him a little longer before pursing her lips and nodding. The stare immediately falls and her face softens, a little smirk taking place.
“I'm Natasha” she sticks her hand out and Jason shakes it.
“You're, youre Black Widow, right?” He asks and she gives him a nod. “I read about you online”
“Light reading?”
“Nah” Jason huffs a laugh. “My dad is sort of nuts about knowing everything, he drilled it into our heads to get our hands on every bit of information we can”
“Sounds intense”
“He is intense, it's kind of scary” Natasha huffs a laugh too and hands him the pile of books.
“Stick these in the bookshelf please, I'd just leave them but last time I did Cap stubbed his toe and I've still not heard the end of it” Jason snorts as he takes the books, squinting as he tries to read the first title.
“It's Russian?”
“Yeah, James speaks it but I don't want him getting rusty. He's the only one who I can actually speak it with.”
“I speak a bit, not enough though. Do you mind if I look through these too?”
“Go ahead” Natasha nods. “Where'd you learn Russian?”
“I lived with some people for a while who thought it was essential. They taught me Arabic too”
“Very cultural, just those two?”
“No, I speak Spanish and Romani too”
“Now there's one I don't know” Natasha says as she takes a seat next to Jason. “That's a hard one too”
“Yeah, it was. I spent more time trying to learn it than doing my homework, my dad didn't know whether to be mad or impressed.”
“Why'd you want to learn it? Seems a bit random for a school kid”
Jason smiles sadly.
“My brother is Romani and I wanted to be able to speak to him in his own language, I thought it'd make him like me”
“And did it?”
“I dunno” Jason grimaces. “He never really let me know” Natasha shrugs and leans back into the couch, making herself comfortable.
“Some people are like that. I take it you know all the swears?”
“In Spanish and Romani yeah” he laughs “Not Russian though, apparently those weren't essential”
“Oh they are, most important part of learning a language. Now listen closely and repeat after me, okay?”
That's how Bucky and Steve find them an hour later, Natasha swearing in Russian and Jason copying it back perfectly. Bucky’s mouth curls into a smirk when he figures out what they're saying while Steve just stands dumbfounded and hopes this isn't a bad influence for Jason.
-
Just after the Ralphs incident with Tim, Bucky takes Jason to Avengers tower. Or Stark tower. Steve said they're between towers at the moment and it's unclear who's tower it's going to end up being. Jason doesn't care, he's too star struck to notice the name.
It's huge, stretching way higher than any Wayne Enterprises building ever could and the way the sun reflects off the windows makes it seem like some kind of utopia.
“Bit flashy, right?” Bucky nudges him. “I was the same as you when Steve first dragged me here.” Jason barely acknowledges him, he's too busy staring up at the building he'd seen ripped to shreds on TV nearly three years ago.
They go in, Bucky greeting the doorman like they're old friends and go up in the glass elevator.
“Is this the one Steve jumped out of?”
“Nah, that was at SHIELD headquarters” Bucky laughs.
“Uh, what's SHIELD?”
But then the elevator dings before Bucky can respond and Jason’s jaw drops open.
He's seen nice, he lived with Bruce Wayne for five years, he knows nice, but this. Jesus Christ this is insane.
It's beautiful and modern and light streams in the windows which is a huge contrast to the somewhat dark and gloominess of Wayne Manor. But what really strikes Jason is the endless amounts of robot parts and electronics strewn across workbenches and the floor. Tim would go absolutely nuts here, even Jason was itching to see what it could all do.
“Buckaroo” comes a voice and Jason spins round to see Tony Stark holding a fucking Iron Man helmet. He's actually met Tony before at one of Bruce’s galas.
“You brought a kid” Tony greets, big smile on his face. “One of Bruce Wayne’s kids!”
“You actually remember me?” Jason splutters.
“Of course, you were all over the papers when he adopted you, took the limelight off me which was a bit of a joke but y’know” Tony waves the helmet. “I hit back. We've met before, right?”
“Yeah, yeah one of the Christmas galas” Jason nods.
“Oh yeah, you were the broody kid hanging with the butler all night. What were you, nine?”
“Eleven” Jason corrects. “I was just a small kid.”
“Fair enough” Tony turns to Bucky and hits his arm. “Can't believe you pinched a Wayne kid, the dead one for that matter” Tony wiggles his eyebrows and Jason feels all colour drain from his face. Bucky gives him a look and when realisation dawns on Tony he points little finger guns at Jason.
“I see we're not touching that deep dark hole then” he says. “Never mind, I'll drill you on it later. Now Bucky Bear, the reason I've called you here today”
He wanders over to a workbench and Bucky follows after him, not without shooting Jason a supportive smile first. Jason just sighs and shuffles over to where Tony left the helmet.
He starts poking around, investigating it and even thinking of a few ideas he could've stolen for the Red Hood helmet and he ends up sort of getting lost in it. It's not until Tony slaps him on the back that he's startled into reality.
“Okay, sorry jumpy” Tony says when Jason glares at him.
“Takes more than that to make me jump” he mumbles.
“Sure, sure absolutely. Anyway, you liking this? Been interested in it for like an hour”
“An hour?” That didn't sound right, he'd only been looking at it for what, five minutes? But then he looks over his shoulder to where Bucky had followed Tony to to see him cross legged on the floor, surrounded by robot parts and blueprints, lost in his own little world as he tries to piece together some kind of machine thing.
“Yeah kiddo but it's fine, stuffs cool, right?”
“Yeah, I, uh, worked on something like this before?”
“Something like an Iron Man helmet?” Tony’s eyebrows shoot up. “Where'd you find that”
“Was just playing around with stuff” Jason shrugs. “Bruce had like an endless supply of materials so…”
“Ah, gotcha” Tony glances at Bucky before leaning in. “Something with Batman, right?”
The helmet goes clattering to the table as Jason pales for the second time that day. He looks over to Bucky who's still concentrated on what he's doing and hisses,
“I have no idea what you're talking about”
“C’mon Jason, your dad isn't as sly as he thinks he is. Sure he's got all of Gotham fooled but not me, give me a break” Tony rolls his eyes.
“You've lost me completely” Jason insists.
“Sure, whatever. I'm not gonna tell by the way, your secrets safe from Papa Steve and Papa Buck” This time Jason rolls his eyes. “But for real, that's not what kids should be doing and I know what a bad dad can be like” Tony grimaces. “So if you ever want to do something, because no matter what Steve says talking about your feelings does not resolve everything, just come round and you can pull apart some old suits or whatever. It helps like sixty percent of the time”
“Only sixty percent?” Jason teases.
“I'm yet to develop a foolproof way to correctly work through childhood trauma but I'll give you a call when I do and we can go into business, I know a couple people who would be very interested in working with us.”
“Same here dude, everyone from Gotham is a little fucked”
“Mhm, I'm hearing you there” Tony pushes the helmet back into Jason’s hands. “Go nuts with that by the way, I don't need it anymore. Also, I want to hear the death story if you're sticking around” He does the finger guns again, pulling a laugh from Jason.
“It's not as exciting as you're hoping it is”
“Got to be more fun than Steve’s high school education videos, right Barnes?” He shouts the last part and Bucky's head snaps up.
“What?”
“We're talking abouts Cap’s education videos”
“Make him watch the detention one, it'll make you regret all your life choices”
So they do and Jason just thanks his lucky stars that when he used to get detention he didn't have to sit through that. That's a punishment in itself.
-
Then comes Damian smashing the window and when Steve returns with supplies to fix it, Jason meets Clint. Because apparently he counts as supplies.
“Right guys I'm a bit of an expert in home renovation so let the master do his thing” he says rubbing his hands together.
“It's a broken window Barton, not extreme home makeover”
“I'm impressed you know what that is Barnes, you finally on to quality television?”
“Aren't you the guy who shoots the arrows” Jason buts in.
“Yeah, that's my part time job” he turns to Jason. “Clint Barton”
“Jason. I know a guy who shoots arrows too. He says it's more accurate than bullets.”
“He would be correct” Bucky snorts and Clint shoots him a glare.
“What you laughing at? Of course arrows beat bullets.”
“You sure about that?” Jason asks. “I mean, it's not as fast right? And you've got to reload every time you shoot”
“But arrows can do more damage and you've got to be real skilled so obviously when you're as skilled as me, you're gonna hit the mark every time” Clint argues.
“Sure but how much damage do you really need when you're aiming for a head? And if you have that same level of skill when shooting is it not easier?”
Clint opens and closes his mouth a couple of times, trying to think of a comeback while Bucky just smiles wickedly behind him.
“C’mon guys, let's get this window-” Steve tries but Clint cuts in.
“I'll show you right now if you want” he near enough shouts. “I'll show you just how much more accurate arrows are”
“Sounds good to me” Jason shrugs. “Bucky can I borrow your gun?”
“Wait, you're that skilled at shooting?”
“Sure, I wouldn't have started this if I wasn't”
“Sure whatever kid” Clint smirks.
“Wait, wait, are we not going to do the window?” Steve asks.
“We’ll do it after Stevie” Bucky tells him before going to get his gun.
“Loser fixes the window?” Jason proposes and Clint nods.
“And when you lose, I'm not even going to give you tips on how to give the window pane an amazing finish”
“Dude you need to work on your trash talk”
“Here you go Jay” Bucky comes back in and hands Jason the gun. “All loaded and ready”
“We don't even have anywhere to do this” Steve tries again to diverge back to the window.
“We’ll go to the roof!” Bucky supplies.
“Clint doesn't have his arrows”
“They're in my car. Not like I'm going to go anywhere without them”
So five minutes and a quick trip to Clint’s car later, they're all on the roof watching Bucky set up targets.
“I can't believe you carry around targets too” Jason says.
“Always gotta be prepared” Clint winks.
“Do we have to do this” asks Steve who's been campaigning since Clint’s car to turn back and do the window.
“Shut up Steve. Okay, so five points for each bullseye and we’ll see who has most points at the end?” Bucky decides and Clint and Jason nod.
“You're gonna look like such an idiot after this” scoffs Jason.
“Jokes on you, I always look like an idiot” Clint replies.
One hour, twenty targets and four pineapples later, the scores are both tied.
“This is ridiculous” Steve groans. “You've both hit the targets perfectly, can we not just accept both bullets and arrows are good and go fix the window”
“Not until I win” yells Clint.
“Don't you mean until I win!”
“That's it, listen here you little shit-”
“Okay, okay, everyone remain calm” Bucky soothes. “Now, we may have done this every way possible, but there is still one thing we can try”
“Just tell us Barnes, no need to pause for dramatic effect”
Bucky sticks his tongue out at Clint and rolls his eyes.
“We can always try the apple on the head shot”
“No absolutely not” Steve attempts to shut this down once and for all.
Which of course ends with Steve and Bucky standing on one side of the roof with plumbs balanced on their heads while Clint and Jason take aim on the opposite side.
“I can't believe we're doing this”
“I know, it would've worked so much better with apples” Bucky teases.
Steve opens his mouth to respond but then hears the sudden gunshot and ducks in response.
An arrow pierces through the plumb on Bucky’s head while Steve’s own falls to the ground as a bullet whizzes over his head.
“Yes!” Clint cheers. “I told you!”
“Dammit Steve what the hell?!”
“You shot before the countdown!”
“Bucky did the damn countdown with his fingers, were you not paying attention!”
Jason spins to Clint who's doing a celebratory dance.
“We’re doing that again”
“Sorry, the rules were whoever got the plumb, and that was me” Clint lets out a whoop and Jason crosses his arms and pouts but totally not in a childish way because Jason is not a child.
“That's so unfair”
“Ah, bad luck Jason” Bucky claps his shoulder. “For what it's worth I'm still with you on the bullets argument”
“Now can we fix the damn window?” Steve begs.
So Jason ends up fixing the window with Steve as Clint gloats behind him.
“This sucks” sulks Jason. “I would've won”
“No one likes a sore loser Jay” Steve chastises.
“Yeah Jay” Clint mocks and Jason aims a kick at Clint's shin. He would've hit him too if Steve hadn't grabbed his leg.
“Seriously though” Clint continues. “You're a real good shot. Should go up against Nat at some point, you might actually have a chance then”
“Yeah whatever” Jason grumbles as Clint laughs.
(Clint does tell him how to get that perfect finish and Jason is secretly proud of how good his window looks)
-
One day Bucky gets a fever so Jason goes with Steve to the VA.
He doesn't take part in the group, it's more for moral support and it's kind of weird seeing Sam being so serious, especially after that animated impression of Nick Fury he'd given that morning.
But everything goes smoothly and when the meeting comes to an end Jason waits by the door while Steve talks to Sam and some vets.
“Hey” someone says beside Jason. “You're Jason right?”
Jason turns to a man with curly hair and a friendly smile.
“Yeah, I'm Jason”
“Bruce Banner” he sticks his hand out. “Tony told me you were living with Steve and Bucky”
“Yeah” Jason shakes Bruce’s hand. “I've been there a couple months now I think”
“Nice, I've heard you've been getting round all the avengers too”
“Yeah, just got hulk and Thor left, although Steve told me that probably won't happen for a while”
“That's true, Thor went back to Asgard recently and well, I do try to keep the hulk at bay”
It takes a couple of moments for it to click for Jason.
“Wait, you're the hulk?”
Bruce laughs. “That's me, I'm that Bruce Banner”
“Aw, dude I'm sorry”
“No, no don't worry. I get it all the time”
An awkward silence falls over them then.
“Did you serve too?” Jason forces himself to ask just to stop the awkwardness.
“Hm?” Jason nods over to Steve and Sam. “Oh, right. Nah, I've never served but I'm apparently really good to talk to, especially regarding PTSD. I mean, I heard all of Tony’s and he seemed to appreciate it so I just help out around here sometimes. It's more one in one stuff though than a big group thing”
“Ah okay” says Jason. “For people that don't want to talk about feelings in front of other people, right?”
“Right” Bruce nods. “Sometimes it's just easier, yknow?”
“Yeah I know” Jason looks away and shuffles on his feet. “Seems a lot easier, to me anyway”
“Had experience yourself?” Bruce seems to realise what he says and his eyes widen as he tries to take it back. “Not, not to sound, like, or anything-”
“It's okay” Jason cuts him off. “I've never actually done anything like that before. I mean, my dad wanted to me to years ago when I first started living with him but he sort of gave me a different outlet which in the long run probably wasn't the best idea” He huffs a laugh. “So yeah, never had experience”
“Well, if you ever do want the experience” Bruce gives him a smile that Jason finds himself returning.
“Maybe, like, I'm pretty sure Steve is desperate for me to talk about my problems”
“Steve just wants what's best for you, he's like that with everybody, trust me”
“Yeah that's true, he won't outright ask me anything but he slips things like ‘you should never keep things bottled up’ into conversations and he thinks he's being sly”
“That sounds like Steve” laughs Bruce. “He's got a point though, you shouldn't keep things inside, they might turn into a hideous green monster”
“Hey I wouldn't say he's hideous”
“You better not be talking about me there Jay” Steve suddenly appears next to Bruce.
“Course not, Steve Rogers and hideous should never go together in the same sentence” Jason teases and Steve rolls his eyes.
“I see you met Bruce” he remarks.
“Yeah, we were having a good chat before you interrupted Rogers” Bruce joins the teasing.
“Okay, okay I can take a hint. I'll meet you outside Jason?” Steve says to which Jason nods.
“I need to get going anyway” Bruce tells him. But before he goes he digs into his pocket and pulls out a card. “Here's my number, call whenever if you ever want that experience we talked about, okay?”
“Sure, I'll think about”
And Jason does think about it. He does.
Besides, it's not like there any other Bruce's he can talk to, right?
So yeah, all in all, Bucky and Steve have some pretty decent friends and Jason is low key beginning to think that the Avengers are cooler than the Justice League (the only thing that the Justice League has is Wonder Woman anyway).