Stranger Who Knows All My Secrets [A Marvel FanFic]

Chapter 38: Alpine

If there was one thing Bucky would always remember, it was the day his sister Rebecca brought a stray tabby cat home from school. It was a normal day in June of 1930 when the approaching warmth of summer made the last days of school miserable for students and teachers alike. As Bucky did every day after the bell rang, he ran with Stevie the three blocks from the middle school to the elementary school where seven-year-old Becca was unusually quiet as she stood near the gate waiting for her big brother and his best friend to pick her up.

Honestly, Bucky should have known right away that Becca was up to something because the wild, trouble-maker was well-behaved the whole walk home, not making a single attempt to annoy him or Stevie by interrupting their conversation or jumping on their backs. Hell, she even held Bucky's hand without complaint when they had to cross the streets. The two boys knew she had a secret she was hiding and they were determined to crack the little girl like an egg, so they scrounged up all the loose change in their pockets and bought her an egg cream at O'Neill's Maltshop, then held it hostage.

Of course, Becca refused to cave, she wouldn't give in no matter even if it meant not having a cold beverage on a hot day but the disgruntled meows emanating from her school bag as Bucky cornered her in the alley next to the shop gave her away. Becca had a meltdown when Bucky pried her bag off her shoulders and yanked the filthy animal out of it before firmly telling her to get rid of the ratty tabby. She wouldn't have it though and declared she was taking it home with them before starting to cry like a baby with crocodile tears so convincing she managed to sway Stevie to her side; the jerk.

Bucky remembered the little kitty being a gross mess when he pulled it from Becca's backpack. Matted fur and gunked-up eyes but it was clearly a baby and in need of care so he just grumbled and told his sister to keep it out of sight until they could convince their mother it was a good idea. He knew she'd never go for it. Mama Barnes was going to kill the three of them because no amount of begging throughout his short thirteen years on the planet had gotten him the dog he'd been begging for since before Becca was ever even born.

He was going to sit and wait until it all blew up in her face like he knew it would and that was how he, Becca, and Stevie ended up sneaking into the house through the backyard. They scaled the iron fence which their dad always kept locked, up the steps of the porch and through the open kitchen door where they crawled like soldiers across the floor while their mom was busy feeding a one-year-old Margaret in the dining room.

Mr Charles Bricktop managed to stay hidden in Becca's room for a whole three hours before their mom barged in on them when Stevie's allergies finally alerted her to the crime in progress. In fact, Stevie's sneezing didn't just give them away, they nearly killed the boy. His eyes had swollen shut, a rash had broken out across his face and his asthma was so out of control that Mama Barnes thought she was going to have to rush to the hospital with a gaggle of children in tow because of how badly he reacted to the tabby.

Thankfully Bucky managed to take Stevie home to his mom once Mama loaded him up on various medicines that had him a little loopy and Mrs Rogers looking frazzled when they ran into her on the corner on her walk home from work. He had to haul Stevie up all three flights of stairs to their tiny apartment and roll him into bed for Mrs Rogers which she was appreciative of. She gave him a hand full of lollipops for his help, they were the same lollipops she snuck into her purse from the pediatric unit she worked at, the only way she could afford treats for Stevie without actually having to spend money.

Bucky took them graciously, sucking on one the whole walk home and making sure to hide them from his mom, or else she would make him share them with Becca. He was certain that by the time he got back home, his sister would be wailing in her bed like a banshee because their dad would have undoubtedly tossed the kitten to the curb the moment he got in from work. Instead, Bucky came home to find that the Barnes family now owned a cat which was completely unfair because he was the oldest child and therefore, should have had his own pet before stupid annoying Becca.