"Let me guess," Bucky says, shaking his head. "You had him on the ropes."
"How'd you know?" Steve replies weakly, wiping the blood from his (probably broken) nose with the back of his hand. Bucky offers him a handkerchief, which Steve quickly ruins.
"So what'd the other guy do this time?" Bucky's morbidly curious, and Steve almost relishes it. Buck had always liked fight stories, even if he wouldn't admit it.
"Called me a queer ass fairy bitch," Steve says, almost casually. He gets that and worse once weekly- it almost isn't a big deal to him anymore. (Almost.)
Bucky's eyes widen in shock. "Damn. And you threw the first punch?"
Steve snorts a little. "What, over that? Nah. It's the fuckin' truest thing O'Connor's said in his life." He's playing it off, but clearly it got to him. He wouldn't have a broken nose if it didn't. "See, that's not the worst of it. I wouldn't have fought him otherwise, prob'ly. Prob'ly," he repeats, seeing Bucky's skeptical expression. "Okay, yeah, I still would've fought him," he admits. "But the thing is, he said you were, too. A queer ass fairy bitch, I mean. And that you only hung around me 'cause I was sucking your dick."
Bucky's mouth opens slightly in shock- he blinks several times. "Oh." He runs his fingers through his hair, a nervous tic of his. Steve hates that he finds it attractive. "Alright then."
Steve laughs humorlessly. "You're welcome."
And suddenly Bucky surges forward, and Steve is so caught off guard he nearly swings at him, because when you grow up on the streets where wannabe gangs go hunting for homos to beat, you develop certain instincts. But no, Bucky is kissing him. Kissing him.
Steve's first thought is shit, is my blood getting on him, followed quickly after by holy fucking shit, why am I worrying about a nosebleed when Bucky Fucking Barnes, number one straight guy, is actually kissing me?
And for all his talk about being the gayest boy this side of Brooklyn, he's never actually kissed someone like this, not someone he's wanted for years and knew he couldn't have, and it takes him an embarrassingly long time to remember he's supposed to close his eyes. Not that Bucky notices this- he's worked Steve up against the alley wall and seems to be enjoying himself immensely.
Steve has imagined this scenario far more times than he'd care to admit, but until now, he realizes, he's never actually taken into account how soft Bucky's lips are. (Very soft.) Or how warm he is. (He wonders if it's the summer, or their combined body heat, or if it's all just in his head.) It's kind of better than he'd anticipated, even if his gut is burning from the beating he just took and he is (still) bleeding profusely from his nose.
When they break apart, Bucky is in fact covered in Steve's blood. He doesn't seem to mind, though.
"So, so let me get this straight," Steve says after a pregnant pause, staggering back to slump against the wall. "I fight a guy for calling you gay, and then you, you literally make out against a wall with me."
"Sorry." Bucky grins sheepishly. "Bad timing?"
"No, I'm not complaining, I'm fuckin' thrilled."