The Brother, the Boy, and the Shoe || B. Barnes

Hatred and Agreements

Allison Mae Rogers hated James Buchanan Barnes.

Seeing him every day due to his being best friends with her brother, Allie found herself in more arguments than she could count. She could never keep track of how may times she had wanted to slap the stupid smirk off of his face when he spoke to her.

It was the way that when he won an argument with her, he would give that stupid smirk and seemingly mock her the rest of the evening. She in turn would give a "Humph" before holding her head up high as if he couldn't take her down a single notch.

Likewise, he hated her too. Whenever she entered a room that he was in or he entered a room that she was in, it was as if she turned her nose up and held her head away from him. He was never blind to how smart she was. He wasn't surprised when she went to nursing school and when she started her work at the local hospital. And yet, it irked him. It even sometimes seemed to piss him off.

Steve Rogers had learned to deal with living a life where his younger sister and best friend couldn't stand one another. He diffused arguments that became too heated, convinced them to let situations go when they would listen to reason, but he had found that each day that passed was another day that he became just a tad more tired and annoyed by their bickering.

All of their arguments and bitterness and hatred had stemmed from the first time they had ever met. Allie had always been used to taking care of her brother when he was being bullied. She often had to clean up his cuts and scrapes, ice his bruising cheeks, scold him even, when her older brother found himself being cornered and harassed by bullies. It was on one such afternoon that Steve found himself being beat up for his lunch money that someone new came to his defense.

"Are you alright?" the young boy had asked him.

"Yeah, I'm alright," Steve nodded as he wiped the corner of his lips, checking for any blood that may have occurred from a split lip.

"Does that happen a lot?" the boy had turned to look off in the direction that the bullies had scrambled off in after he had scared them off.

"More than I'd like it to," Steve nodded once more.

"Well," the boy turned to him with a nod of his own. "It's not anymore."

"What do you mean?" Steve's brow rose.

"James Buchanan Barnes," the boy introduced himself. "You can call me Bucky."

"Well, Bucky," Steve gave a friendly nod. "Thanks. I should get home though."

"Let me walk you back in case they try and do anything," Bucky had said and after a moment of protest, Steve agreed.

The two young teenagers walked along the sidewalks that led through Brooklyn. Steve had told him briefly about his going to school with his younger sister while Bucky told him about the high school that he attended. It was strange to the young Steve Rogers to have a popular looking boy, handsome and confident, talking to him just as plainly as his sister talked to people.

The Rogers siblings weren't the most well off of the kids that went to their school. Steve often having been picked on for his stature and health while Allie, friendly to those around her but fiercely loyal to her brother, found herself often sticking up for her older brother.

"Does your sister approve of you getting in fights?" Bucky seemed to already tease him as if they had been friends for years.

"Not exactly," Steve laughed. "I'm pretty sure she'll kill me about my lip before our mom ever even sees it tonight."