Brothers Reunited

Chapter Three: Bucky PoV

My brother was alive. After my mother died in the building collapse and my siblings mysteriously disappeared, I thought I'd never see my family again. Yet here I was, sleeping in a room next to my now 14-year-old brother.

The haunted look in his eyes scared me. I saw far too much of myself after Hydra in him. I have to become stronger for him. I have to be the carefree and smiling influence he's been missing all these years. And I can't push him. Whoever he's become, I know Nico's still a good person. He always was the most energetic, happy child, and he always had a good heart. Qualities like those don't just disappear. Of course, no one can forget how he lifted Thor's hammer. If anything, that should prove he's a worthy person.

I am worried about his connection to Thor, though. Nico's a pretty incredible liar, I'll give him that, but I know he wasn't saying everything earlier. I don't want him getting mixed up in any more trouble. I just want to get to be a part of his life again; I just want to be his brother. Now that I have found him, I'm not letting go.

Maybe I will be able to convince Tony to let him stay in Avengers Tower with us. Although, I'm sure Nico will be the tougher one to convince. He said something about a camp earlier... I'll have to ask him about that. I hope it's a stable environment and that Nico has a good life there. He looks like he's gone through a lot.

I know the others are dying to run millions of tests on him and interrogate him for hours and hours. Natasha will want to thoroughly question him about his time travel. Bruce will want to run hundreds of tests to see if he can find evidence of aging in Nico's cells, and SHIELD will undoubtedly want to bring him into their custody. Steve and I'll have to protect him. He already looks like he has PTSD, but I don't want to actually give it to him. My brother will probably need a proper check-up and a ton of vaccinations considering we weren't very ahead in the medical field back in the 1930s. Bruce should give him a physical check-up, and he should probably look at Nico's mental health.

I look at the time and realize Steve should be getting up around now. I really need to clear my head, so I quickly change and rush outside to join him for his morning run. As I approach the kitchen, I hear voices.

"Nico! What are you doing up at 5:00 in the morning?" Steve asks.

I hear the shuffling of feet and almost miss Nico's mumbled answer, "I'm an early bird, and I don't need much sleep."

I scoff at that, but the others don't hear me.

"I thought all teenagers slept in late."

"I'm not really your normal teenager. Plus, we also wake up early at camp for activities." Nico mutters, and I hear him moving towards the door. He acts like human contact is a plague.

"Want to join me for a morning run? Maybe we could catch up? We could just talk?" I can hear the desperation in Steve's voice. He practically lived with us at times and was like the fourth sibling in our family.

"Maybe another day, but do you have a training room? I've been trying to learn archery at camp for a friend." I heard my brother ask.

Steve sounded sad that Nico didn't want to run with him but replied anyway, "It's a few floors down," I heard the rustling of paper, "Here's a map, so you don't get lost in the llama."

I chuckled softly at Steve's llama comment, and I smirked after hearing Steve carried around a map.

"Well, I'll see you later?" Steve asks.

"I'm not going to run away, don't worry," Nico replies, and I am relieved.

I decide to follow my little brother. He slinks out of the room, and Steve follows. They both move toward the elevator. Steve sees me and winks. For some reason, Nico ends up taking the stairs. When he looks at the elevators, he pales and shudders. (AN: The twin giants had to get Nico out of Tartarus somehow.)