A/N:

Little. Miss. Oblivious.- Yes, Steve definitely is a big help to Maddi. I hope you enjoy this because Steve is just a sweet character and I love writing about him or "as him."

Guest- I am so glad you like Maddi! I hope you continue to enjoy her development because I plan to focus on that just as much as her relationship with Steve and others from the MCU.

April 30, 1934

The next day I immediately went to find Steve and Bucky. I had an early morning shift but I had to apologize, and I couldn't go back to that diner where John would be. I figured I would try Steve's house first, and as I got to his door I hesitated before knocking. I was worried he wouldn't want to talk to me still after I disregarded his warnings before. I wanted to tell him I should have listened, and I still hadn't decided how much of the previous day I should tell. I wore a light sweater to hide the bruises shaped as fingers on my arms, and decided I should at least apologize to Steve, so I knocked on the door. A few seconds later, Steve opened it and looked surprised to see me. "Can I come in?" I ask quietly and nods. I walk in and see Bucky is in the kitchen eating food and he smiles when he sees me. "Hi Bucky, I'm glad you're here."

"Hey Maddi, what brings you here?"

I turned to Steve and said, "I'm so sorry Steve. I should have listened to you before, and I know you were just trying to protect me because you care about me. I treated you poorly for that and I'm really sorry." Bucky got more serious s he heard, I'm sure Steve told him about our conversation already.

"Maddi, don't worry about it, I know you love John" he was clearly forcing his words out.

"No, it's not okay though. John was a bit more… aggressive yesterday than in the past. If I had just listened to you, maybe none of this would have happened."

"Maddi, what happened?" Bucky said standing up and walking slowly towards me.

I looked around to see an empty apartment, assuming Mrs. Rogers was working. I made my way over to the sofa and sat down, waiting for Steve and Bucky to do the same. As they sat down, I took a deep breath to begin telling them what happened the previous night. "I didn't want to go out with him. That's all, I just wanted to go home, but he wouldn't have it. We fought because he kept wondering if I loved him." A couple tears slid down my cheek as I spoke and they both had concerned looks on their faces. Steve took my hand and squeezed it to let me know he was there for me. I smiled softly at him and continued. "He said I was selfish and I drove everyone away and if I didn't want to go out with him, it meant I didn't love him. I tried to o home, but he was grabbing my wrists and I was scared so I went out with him. It was so strange, after that he acted as if nothing happened."

"Maddi, did he hurt you?" Steve asked in reference to John grabbing my wrists. I slowly pulled up the sleeve on the arm Steve was holding the hand of to show it was bruised on the top. Steve looked down at my wrist and slowly turned it to reveal four purple marks next to each other across from one other. It was clearly a hand that caused the discolored marks on my pale skin. "Maddi," Steve just said with sadness in his voice as he took my other hand and pulled up the sleeve to show yet another hand mark on my wrist.

He remained silent but Bucky stood up quickly and said, "Alright, I'm going to find Kinney and give him a piece of my mind."

"No, Bucky please. I don't want you to do that," I knew if he would go, Steve would want to go with him and I didn't want to see him get hurt. I didn't want to be alone. I was crying more, but I was also trying to keep myself together. "Just help me stay away from him, I don't want y'all getting in a fight over me." I could tell both boys in front of me wanted to argue, but they saw I needed them with me and not getting in trouble. "I have to quit my job, I can't keep going back there."

"What if he's there?" Bucky asked.

"We'll go with her then," Steve said. "If that's okay with you?" He asked to make sure I was on board.

"Yeah, I would feel safer with you there." I said directly to Steve to make sure he knew I meant mostly him. We were still holding hands, and I had John's words in the back of my mind. He has the hots for you. There was no way that could be true, we were just really good friends: him, Bucky, and I. We cared about each other a lot but Steve couldn't have romantic feelings for me, I had been too cruel to him.

April 30, 1934 (STEVE POV)

I held Maddi's hand the entire wan to the diner because she never let go and I was going to let it last. I was fuming inside because of what John did. He had been making her feel worthless for most of their relationship, and then he physically hurt her. I couldn't understand how anyone could hurt a woman, let alone someone as sweet and kind as Maddi. I was glad she was leaving him, but I wished it was under better circumstances. We made it to the diner, and Bucky and I waited outside while she went in to quit. As she was walking out, she looked a little brighter until something caught her eye and her entire face became more pale than I had ever seen. I followed her line of sight to see John walking towards us. "Do you want us to handle this?" I asked her.

"No, I need to tell him it's over. Just stay here," she slowly made her way over to him and spoke to him in a hushed tone that I could not hear. I could see him getting redder by the second.

I was about to intervene when Bucky stopped me. "Give her a minute," he said. I knew he was trying to be the level head, but I could also tell he wanted to stop their conversation. Then both of us were left stunned as Kinney had the guts to slap Maddi in the face right in front of us. The next moment, Bucky and I were right next to them as he grabbed Kinney by the collar. The jerk may had been older than all three of us, but Bucky had developed a good set of muscles early enough to be bigger than him. He was clearly coming down from his rage and realized he messed up to hurt our best friend in public. "You're leaving," Bucky stated firmly as I was holding Maddi a few feet away.

"Maddi, I'm sorry. It was an accident. Can we just talk about this? Tell him to let me go." He tried to get her to do what he wanted but I would not let that happen.

"You don't get to talk to her," I told him. "Not anymore, not ever again."

"Oh shut up, Rogers. This isn't about you." Before anything else could happen, Bucky punched him hard in the face.

"We're leaving, and you're going to never talk or touch Maddi again, or you'll get a lot worse than a punch in the face." KInney was so stunned at Bucky's words, he did not respond. So the three of us walked away while I help on to Maddi's hand with my own while I wrapped my other arm around her shoulder.

Maddi had stayed quiet the entire time, no tears falling on her face. As we were about to round the corner, John yelled out "You're just as worthless as the twerp your leaving me for!" I could feel Maddi tense next to me but she remained silent as we kept walking.

I wanted to turn back around and shut him up for good, but Maddi squeezed my hand and shook her head. "Please, it's not worth it." and I respected her wishes as we walked her home.