Things seemed perfect. Steve and Bucky had fallen into a very comfortable routine. Bucky would go out to work at the docks, and when Steve wasn't sick he would deliver the newspapers as his new job. It didn't pay a lot, but the money was still welcome, and Steve was happy to be doing something. But with all good things, they had to come to an end.
While Steve was delivering papers one day, he passed by an alley and heard a ruckus. He looked down and saw four other men ganging up on this poor guy in the middle of it all. And then he heard what they were saying as their fists flew. "Fairy!" "Queen!" "Sissy!" It set Steve's blood on fire… The small blonde dropped his paper bag and walked over toward the crowd. "HEY!" He bellowed.
They only stopped a moment to laugh at Steve. "Go away, short-stack, this has nothing to do with you." One of them rumbled and kicked the man in the gut. Steve grit his teeth, his fists balling.
"No. I don't think you understand. You need to leave that guy alone." He said and grabbed one of their shoulders. Steve's heart was racing. They were so much larger than Steve was and could easily snap him like a toothpick. He set his jaw firm though, pushing down that fear.
"And what are you going to do if we don't? Why do you care about some queer?" He hissed, boxing Steve back into the wall. Steve held his fists up, ready to defend himself and this stranger. The larger man chuckled and just decked Steve, expecting him to go down from that one hit.
Steve staggered back up, wiping the blood from his nose. "That all ya got?" He asked and took a swing at the other guy. He hit Steve again and again, but the blonde refused to go down. The first victim had gotten up and ran away by this time, thankful that Steve had stepped in. Steve was glad that he helped the man, even if he was getting his ass handed to him now. Each blow got a grunt from the blonde. His face ached, he was sure his nose was broken. When they went for gut shots, Steve felt all the air get knocked out of him, and his lungs struggle to take another breathe in. But still he refused to stay down. He refused to surrender.
"Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" Steve heard Bucky's voice. He chuckled a little and slumped against the brick wall of the alley. He was amazed by how often Bucky came to his rescue, even when he had no clue where Steve was. It was like he had a special sense that let him know when Steve was doing something stupid. The bullies left, Bucky had done a number on them.
When Bucky saw that they were beating Steve up, something inside him snapped more than it did before. That wasn't just his best friend they were beating now. That was his lover, and he would be damned if he let them get away with that.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" He hissed and looked Steve over. His eyes were going to be black and swollen, his nose may not be broken, but it certainly looked that way from the amount of blood on Steve's face. He couldn't see if there was any other damage to his chest, but he would look when they got home.
"Had to step in… I could have taken them." He said, smiling a little at Bucky. The brunette shook his head and slung Steve's arm over his shoulder.
"You dumbass. Always have to be the hero… one of these days I'm not going to be around to save your ass and you are going to get yourself killed." He grumbled and stopped to pick up Steve's paper bag.
"What did they do?" Bucky asked after he let himself cool down a little. It was times like these that he wanted to strangle Steve himself. He hated seeing the small blonde battered like that.
"They…" He sighed and looked around, making sure that no one was in ear shot. "They were beating up a gay man…" He said. Bucky stopped walking.
"Steve." He breathed and looked at him, his eyes wide. Steve knew he shouldn't have done it. It was a silent rule in the neighborhood you don't step in on those kinds of situations. If you did, you might as well just come out as gay then and there, and now there was a target on Steve's back. "You're kidding…" He whispered. Steve looked down and shook his head. "Christ, Steve! Do you have a death wish?!" Bucky said and grabbed his wrist, pulling him quickly inside their apartment building.
"Bucky, I couldn't just stand there-" Steve said, once they were back into the privacy of their own home.
"No, of course you couldn't have, Steve. You're too damn good for that. But you do realize what you did right?" Bucky said, pacing in front of Steve. Steve nodded and wiped at his bloody nose again.
"I do… I wish I could say that I'm sorry, but I'm not." He said and looked at Bucky.
"I know you aren't, Punk…" Bucky stopped, running a hand in his hair. His mind was racing, trying to think of ways that they could possibly fix this. Then it came to the brunette.
"Alright, I got it, Steve." He said and looked down at his shorter, bloodied, lover. "We don't go out together for a little while… I'll be all yours when it is just us, here, at home. But out there, we had a fight, and aren't talking to each other. It could still be over Jenny." Bucky wet his lips and sighed. "I'll still go on dates, and things will be swell… I promise." He looked at Steve. "Let's clean you up…" He said.