Forever Friends

Chapter 1: The Draft

In 1940, Brooklyn seemed like it would be your forever home. Your heart, your family, your neighborhood, but best of all, your two best friends- James Barnes and Steve Rogers- were all you had ever known. Nothing suited you more. The three of you had always been inseparable- getting into whatever trouble you could find. You and James were the most troublesome. James, or Bucky as friends called him- Jamie to you- were always having to bail little Stevie out of the most precarious situations.

Because his heart was bigger than his brain, Steve always seemed to be in a fight with someone 8 times his size. He hated bullies and could always be found standing up for the little guy. He often forgot he wasn't much bigger. His small frame of 5'5'' and 90 lbs didn't lend much help. His blonde hair limply hung above his ocean blue eyes. No matter the size, his clothes always appeared to hang off of him. A stiff breeze could knock him over, which you and Bucky never ceased to point out on a windy day. You would position yourselves on either side of him and joke as you "held him up" on the way to the dime store. What Steve lacked in body, he more than made up for in mind and heart.

Bucky was always more brawn until it came to you, his friends. He, too, was smart and kind but with a short temper. He mostly liked to muscle his way out of situations. He stood at 5'9" and 260 pounds of almost pure muscle. He would let his thick, black hair grow down to just above his steel blue eyes. Always the ladies' man, Bucky was always getting into his own trouble. You were commonly the one to bail him out of that, sometimes slightly jealous of the girls that stole his attention.

You never had any problems in the dating department. Always a very pretty girl, Jamie and Steve were constantly "rescuing you" as they called it. Your long, silky, dirty blonde hair and curvy body were always catching the eyes of some boy as you walked home from school with Steve and Bucky. You stood, at most, only an inch below Steve but a whole head beneath Bucky. You were always the brains of the group-top in your class from the beginning. You focused mostly on your schooling and your two best friends.

Your parents were sure that when you saw color, it would surely be with one of your two best friends.

At the age of 16, you finally figured out how the whole "soulmate" thing worked.

"What color do you see?" Your father asked, sitting back in his armchair. The look of confusion on your face amused your mother.

"The same colors I've always seen... just gray, black, and white," you said, shaking your head.

As your mother took the seat beside you, she began to explain, "We weren't sure if you had seen them yet... You see when you meet your soulmate, the one destiny has for you, your world will change."

You couldn't help but laugh, "Are we really going to have "the talk" right now?"

This drew a laugh from both of your parents. "No," your mother continued, "but what you see will change. The world will change to colors you've never seen before...." She trails off.

Something flickers in the corner of your mind, "Wait... what do you mean you didn't know if I had seen them yet?"

Your father smiles, taking a long draw from his pipe, "Well you do spend a lot of time with those boys."

You can't help but roll your eyes. "Really? Jamie and Steve? The hothead and the skeleton crew? I don't think so... Besides if they were my 'soulmate,' or whatever," you quote using your fingers, "wouldn't I have already seen colors?"

"Not necessarily," your mother explains, turning to your father.

He explains, "People are always growing, always changing. Just because someone isn't your soulmate today, doesn't mean that through life experiences, time, stress, what-have-you; they won't be later." He fiddles with his tie, "I didn't see colors with your mother until years after we met and she had started dating someone else."