Brooklyn, New York, September 1925

After two years of living in New York, Josephine had grown much more comfortable, and could actually say that she enjoyed living in Brooklyn. Much of that was thanks to Steve and Bucky, who had become her closest friends.

Josephine was putting on her shoes when she heard knocking at the door. She knew that it had to be Bucky and Steve. They had been walking to school together for the past two years and the boys arrived at her apartment at the same time every day.

"Bye Mama!" Josephine called out as she ran toward the front door. "James and Stevie are here!"

"Love you, sweetheart!" Anna replied.

"Love you!" Josephine replied before she rushed out the door. "Hi, James. Hi Stevie."

"Hi Josephine," Steve smiled up at her.

"Hey, Josie." Bucky nudged her as they began to walk.

Josephine wrinkled her nose at the nickname. "I don't know why you insist on calling me that."

"I don't know why you insist on calling me James," Bucky smirked at her.

Steve studied the two closely. He may only be seven years old, but he knows what a crush looks like. He's heard the girls in his and Josephine's class gossiping about the boys that they were crushing on.

"Stevie," Josephine nudged his arm gently. "Are you okay? You look a little far-off there."

"Just thinking about something." Steve waved her off as they approached the school.

The three children walked into the school and Bucky walked Steve and Josephine to their classroom.

"Thanks for walking us to class, James." Josephine smiled gratefully at him.

"Anytime, Josie," Bucky replied. "Stevie, you know the drill. Look after her."

Steve opened his mouth to say something, but Josephine beat him to it.

"James!" she blushed slightly. "I can look after myself, you know that."

"I just worry about you," he defended with a shrug. "All those punks in your class."

Josephine just huffed, rolling her eyes slightly. "Just get to class, James!"

"Fine, fine." Bucky held his hands up in surrender. "I'll see you both when school ends."

Bucky gave them both a wave before he turned to make his way to his own classroom. Steve and Josephine walked into their classroom and sat next to each other.

"He's just looking after you," Steve looked at Josephine. "He's looked after me his whole life. It's what he does."

Josephine sighed deeply. "I know. It's nice of him."

"Alright, children!" their teacher called out, making them drop their conversation. "Pay attention!"

~/~\~

Steve and Josephine's class was outside for recess, and Josephine was talking to some of the girls that she had met through class. However, her attention was taken away from Hazel speaking about some sort of nonsense when she saw two boys looming over Steve. Steve was obviously much smaller than them, and they didn't look too friendly. Josephine stood up, catching the other girls' attention.

"Josephine, what are you doing?" Hazel questioned.

"I'm going to help Steve," Josephine replied as if it were obvious. "He looks like he's being picked on."

"So?" Mildred scoffed.

Josephine frowned deeply. "So, he's my friend and I care about him."

"I don't know why you care about him so much." Hazel rolled her eyes. "He's just some scrawny kid."

"He's one of my best friends, so watch it." Josephine glared before she turned to march over to the two boys looming over her friend. "Hey!"

The two larger boys turned around and started laughing to each other.

"What do you want, Josephine?" the first boy questioned.

"You need to leave him alone!" Josephine snapped. "He wasn't doing anything to you."

"Oh yeah?" the second boy scoffed. "The last thing we need is some Dumb Dora telling us what to do."

"Hey, don't call her that!" Steve glared up at the boys.

"Oh? And what are you gonna do about it?" the first boy laughed in Steve's face.

Steve marched up to the first boy, who just easily shoved him to the ground. Steve groaned in pain and Josephine's eyes widened. She went up to the boy and shoved him, not that it did much.

"Oh does the little girl wanna fight?" the first boy taunted.

"I want you to stop bullying people." Josephine glared up at him.

As the two were arguing, Bucky's class was being brought out for their own recess. Bucky usually met Steve and Josephine and he frowned when he couldn't immediately spot them. Suddenly, he heard a yelp and his head snapped toward the sound. He practically saw red at what he witnessed. The first boy had shoved Josephine to the ground while the second boy laughed.

"Hey!" Bucky yelled as he ran over. "What are you doing?!"

"She shoulda minded her business," the first boy laughed.

"They were messing with me, Buck," Steve informed as the pain subsided. "She was just trying to help."

"You okay, Stevie?" Bucky asked.

"Yeah, just—just check on her," Steve answered, nodding to Josephine.

Josephine brushed off the dirt from her legs and she cringed at the scrapes on her body. Meanwhile, Bucky just glared at the two boys, clearly furious.

"You two better walk away." Bucky ground out. "Josie, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she sniffled slightly.

The second boy scoffed and rolled his eyes. "C'mon, they weren't even that fun to mess with."

Bucky clenched his jaw as the two boys finally took their leave. He looked over his two friends and pursed his lips.

"Okay, we're getting you both to a nurse."

"James, it—it's fine. It's just a few scrapes." Josephine assured him.

"No, come on. I'm not kidding Josie," Bucky replied as he helped both Josephine and Steve up.

"Buck, really, it—

"Steve, if you say it's fine, I swear…" Bucky shook his head. "You both need to stop messin' with people twice your size."

"They were messing with Stevie first." Josephine pouted as Bucky led them to a nearby teacher.

"Oh, well what happened here?" the teacher cooed in concern.

Bucky opened his mouth to begin ranting about how those two boys were treating his friends. However, Josephine beat him to it.

"We, uh, we just fell," Josephine replied.

"Well, I can take you both to the nurse and we can get those scrapes cleaned up," the teacher replied. "James, why don't you stay here?"

"What, no—

"James, it'll be okay," Josephine assured with a small smile. "We'll meet you after school ends. Okay?"

The eight-year-old sighed heavily and nodded. "Okay."

Josephine smiled at him, grateful that he didn't pick a fight with her about it. He was always so protective of her and Steve, and she appreciated it, but sometimes it got a little overwhelming. Bucky just watched as the teacher led Josephine and Steve inside the schoolhouse.

~/~\~

At the end of the school day, Josephine and Steve did as they promised and met Bucky outside of the schoolhouse to walk home.

"Ready?" Bucky asked.

"Mmhmm." Josephine hummed as Steve nodded.

Bucky gave the two a once over, just to make sure that they were okay. "Are you positive that you two are okay?"

"Buck, we're okay," Steve assured before he turned to Josephine. "I never thanked you, for stepping in."

"No need, Stevie." Josephine smiled softly at him. "We're friends. It's what we do." She added before looking up at Bucky. "Thank you, James."

Bucky laughed lightly. "You just told Stevie that we don't need to thank each other for that kind of stuff. You two just need to be more careful."

"Of course, James." Josephine beamed up at him.

Looking at that smile, Bucky felt his little eight-year-old heart skip a beat. He cleared his throat and adjusted his backpack on his shoulders. When they got closer to their apartment complex, they all noticed Sarah Rogers, Winnifred Barnes, and Anna Howard waiting outside for their children.

"James sure has a soft spot for your Josephine, Anna," Sarah commented with a small smirk gracing her lips.

"He has a soft spot for Steven, too." Anna retorted.

"Oh, yes, he's protective of Steve," Winnifred agreed. "But it's different with Josephine."

Anna smiled softly and watched as the kids walked up the road. Bucky kept watching Josephine, just to make sure that she was really okay.

"Hm," Anna hummed. "Maybe you're right."

Sarah scoffed with a knowing smile. "I bet we'll be watching them get married when the time comes."

A/N: I hope you guys are enjoying this story so far! Reviews are much appreciated :)