AU where Steve met Loki before, pt3 - DC
A year after New York, Thor comes back to Earth to tell everyone that Loki is dead. Steve does his best to not show how hard it hits him but eventually, when Natasha tries to set him up on a date on a very bad day, he breaks and tells her the truth.
"I can drop it, if you're absolutely sure that's what you want," she says. "Or I can start looking at men too."
Then Fury gets attacked. Then Steve meets the Winter Soldier. Then SHIELD is Hydra. Then the Winter Soldier is Bucky. Then he puts Steve in the hospital.
Steve knows how fast he can heal and he wants to get out there, now, he needs to be looking for Bucky yesterday. But Sam and Nat are worried about him and though they understand, they don't want him getting up until he's fully healed.
Then it's the middle of the night and Steve is too busy thinking to sleep. Then the door slides open.
"Oh, darling," a familiar voice says. "They've done a number on you, haven't they?"
Steve sits up so fast it hurts. "Loki-"
"I heard James is alive."
Loki gives him a soft smile. "The three of us do have a tendency to keep living, don't we?"
"I will explain everything, I promise. But first." Loki's smile morphs into something much more mischievous. "How do you feel about getting out of here?"
Steve smiles wide. "I've wanted to leave since the moment I got here."
It's good to have Loki back, but it isn't truly great until Bucky returns to them too. Until they find him in a rundown apartment in eastern Europe and Bucky looks at them and recognizes them.
And it's close to perfect when, many months later, Steve gets to wake up in his own apartment in the Avengers Tower and kiss them both good morning.