Just two boys from Brooklyn

A new friendship

"Steve come on we are gonna be late" Sarah put on her earrings

"But I don't want to go" the boy answered

"Steve darling" Sarah walked towards him and started fixing his shirt and hair "the Barnes have asked us to join them for dinner and it is very rude to cancel last minute. So we have to go. Besides this James boy is close to your age. Who knows maybe you will become friends. How does that sound? Your first friend in the new neighbourhood"

"Ok I guess" Steve looked in the mirror and then turned to his mother "but if I don't like him we won't be friends" he frowned

Sarah checked herself once more in the mirror, smiled at her son and took his hand, guiding him out of their home.

They walked out of the apartment, Sarah closed the door behind them and after a couple of seconds they knocked on their host's door. A tall man with dark hair and grey eyes answered it.

"Hello. You must be Sarah and Steve Rogers" he gave them a big smile "I am George Barnes. Winnies husband" he gestured them to enter

"Hi. It's very nice to meet you mr Barnes" Sarah extended her hand for a handshake

"Oh please call me George. Winnie is in the kitchen cooking and James is in his room if you want to go Steve" he said

"Is it ok if I go mommy?" Steve turned to his mother

"Sure go ahead. Just knock first before you enter" she said but Steve was already on his way

When he reached the bedroom section he saw three doors. The one in the middle was plain while the left one had the letters R.B. on it and the other J.B.B. . Steve assumed the right one was Bucky's. He knocked and the boy's voice was heard of the other end

"Just a second" he said, so Steve waited
After a moment Bucky opened the door. He was also wearing a white shirt and his brown hair were styled to the left side of his head, perfectly revealing his steel blue eyes. He looks very handsome Steve thought.

"Hi" Bucky spoke first "um do...do you want to come in?" He pointed at his room

"Uh sure" Steve walked inside

He looked around. The room was about as big as his. It had a bookshelf with a couple of colourful  books and a bunch of board games in it, a bed and between the two a window. On the floor laid a blue carpet and on the opposite side of the bed was the closet and a small desk. It was very clean,Steve noticed, but a few toys that were lying left and right indicated that Bucky had done it last minute

"Are gonna sit or are you gonna keep looking at my room like it's a vault?" Bucky pointed at the bed

"What's a vault?" Steve sat on the bed. It wasn't the softest bed in the world but it was okay

"Mom says it's something big that has beautiful stuff in it" Bucky sat across from him

"Oh okay" Steve nodded "so um what do you wanna do?"

"I don't know. Do you want a tour of the house? You know...get to know each other a little. Or we could play board games" Bucky pointed at them " I have a bunch of them"

"I don't know you choose" Steve replied looking at his shoes

Bucky thought about it for a moment and then sat up. "Come on I will show you around" he decided

Steve jumped out of bed and Bucky opened his door
"This is my parent's bedroom but they said we can't go in there" he pointed at the plain door "and this is my sister's" he opened the door with the initials R.B. . The room was almost identical to Bucky's, only difference being it was pink. On the floor sat a little girl not older than three. As soon as she heard the boys she turned around and smiled at them

"Bucky" she exclamated

"Hey Becca. This is Steve he just moved in the building" he pointed at the blonde "say hi"

"Hiiii" the girl waved at him

"Hello um Becca?" Steve turned to Bucky "your parents named you Bucky and Becca?" He asked

"Well no. My full name is James Buchanan and hers is Rebecca but she couldn't pronounce either one so we shortened hers to Becky or Becca and well she accidentally gave me the nickname Bucky" he explained

"Oh that's actually not a bad nickname. Can I call you Bucky?" Steve asked

"I guess. Ma calls me Bucky sometimes too so I suppose it's ok if you do too" he gave Steve a smile

"Bucky" Winnifreds voice came from the kitchen "get Steve and your sister and come here. Dinner's ready" she said

"Come on Becks" he picked her up and all three walked to the kitchen.

After that day Steve and Bucky became friends and later on best friends. They went to school together, studied together and generally did everything together.

But as they grew older things started changing. When Bucky started junior high school he started becoming more famous. He made more friends and the glow up he had between 8th and 9th grade had all the girls his age dying for him. Steve on the other hand wasn't that lucky. He was still very skinny and thought the combination of blonde hair and blue-green eyes was very popular at the time, the rest of him didn't exactly fit with the school's stereotypes. He would hang out with Bucky's friends and the girls he would talk to would most of the time ask him questions about Bucky. But he didn't really mind.
He always had a special connection to Bucky. He always had this feeling like Bucky was his everything. So as long as Bucky and he remained best friends he didn't care about anything else.

It was a very difficult winter, that of 1934. Well for the rest of the world it was just a cold winter but for Steve it was the third time he was going through pneumonia. He had insisted that his mother wouldn't tell Bucky because the first time he had stayed with him and neglected everything else in his life and the second time he almost caught it too because he slept with Steve to keep him warm enough. This time not only couldn't Bucky afford to miss out on classes but he also had a girlfriend, Doris, who he couldn't forget about.

One night, Sarah started believing that her son didn't have long, because she couldn't bring Steve's fever down by any means and he was coughing like hell. Eventually she decided to do what anyone would do in this situation and call for the priest of the nearest church.

Bucky was out with Doris at the time walking her home when they passed by the church. Doris was laughing at something Bucky had said and he had wrapped his hand protectively around her when they saw father Nelson basically run past them

"Evening to you too father" Bucky joked

The priest turned around with a worrying look on his face

"Show some respect son. I wouldn't be out here laughing if I knew my closest friend was probably on his deathbed" he replied

"What?" Bucky was shocked "what are you talking about? Is Steve ok?" He was starting to feel very nervous, cold sweat covering his body.

"His mother just called and asked me to go over there. She doesn't think he'll make it through the night" with that father Nelson left the couple

"I'm sure your friend is fine James. Now come on I promised my parent we'd be there for dinner" Doris spoke first

"If Steve's sick I have to go doll. I'm very sorry. I wouldn't be abole to live with myself if I knew something had happened to Steve while I was out" Bucky went to leave but she grabbed his hand

"No James. I've had enough of this" she almost yelled "there are three people in this relationship me you and Steve. This can't continue. You are gonna have to chose. Me or him. You can't have us both" she was yelling now

"Are we really gonna do this now?" He was getting angry too "you seriously asking me to chose between my best friend and my girlfriend right now?"

"Yes and I expect you to answer now" she stated

Bucky looked at her for a moment. "I'm sorry Doris. You are a pretty girl with great features. But if you're making me choose between my...my best friend and you then you're only going to be disappointed. Cuz there is no one. NO ONE. I'd put before Steve" he said and then he turned around and started running to Steve's place.