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Bucky notices the coin-filled jar right away, of course.
Or, jars, more accurately. There seems to be one in every room, never more than a quick lunge form wherever Steve happens to be standing. They’re not labeled, but their purpose becomes obvious within moments on his first visit to the tower.
The avengers swear. A lot. And Steve- well.
Steve is always ready with a jar.
Bucky knows there was actual conversation happening that day, but really all he remembers is a litany of expletives and subsequent reprimands.
—-
“Dammit, Nat!”
“The jar, Barton.”
and
“And then the bastard tried to-”
“That’s a quarter, Miss Maximoff.”
and
“This son of a bi-”
“Stark!”
and
“It was a great battle against the Helspawn!”
“One of those quarters Miss Lewis gave you, please.”
“You misunderstand, Hel is a person, not a curse.”
“…Carry on, then.”
—-
He doesn’t bring it up that day, even though he has so many questions.
—-
He doesn’t even bring it up the second or third time he visits, by which point Barton has taken to carrying a roll of quarters everywhere and flipping them- without looking- into the jar before Steve can say anything.
Romanoff has declared that if she can make it out of the room before Steve reaches the jar, she doesn’t have to pay. He’s only caught her once.
Even JARVIS is in on it, electronically transferring from Stark’s accounts when the man refuses to carry actual money. The look on Stark’s face is probably the funniest thing Bucky has ever seen.
—-
It doesn’t really register until about a month later, but.
Steve never curses in front of his team. That’s what finally pushes him to ask about it.
Well, that and Steve charging Tony five dollars for shouting “FUCKING CHRIST ON A POGO STICK!”
—-
“I’ve heard you say worse things on the way to Church, what gives?”
And Steve just starts laughing.
—-
“Assumptions were made. I didn’t correct them,” Steve says after his- frankly gleeful- cackling subsides.
“Besides, I’m only two hundred bucks away from that bike I wanted now.”
And well-
Bucky has always loved the devious little punk.