Breathing Fire

Winter

Sweeping, that was Steve first job of the year at seventeen. His scrawny, wiry frame was easy to push around and rarely got in the way, he was the perfect worker for the burly man.  Larry was not an easy man to get along with, at least not for the young boy. From a very young age his mother had raised him to respect everyone he came across and Larry was not like that. Every woman who came into the store was harassed by Larry in one way or another and Steve always ended up apologizing for him. Though it didn't seem like his apology meant anything to the girls.

To women Steve wasn't much, a sweeper, a scrawny boy, a child. As much as he hated it there was always a glimmer of hope for him, he knew he was worth it and she made him feel that way; Margaret Elizabeth "Peggy" Carter. Every day she visited him at work at his lunch break with his best friend James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes. Today would be no different, at one pm the sharply dressed brunette man would open the door for the military formal woman with dark auburn hair. Peggy had recently got a new hair cut, a bob that made her look all the more beautiful. This woman listened to no one, she was her own boss and he looked up to her in a way. Yet not in the way he looked up to James, or rather Bucky as he was accustomed to calling him. 

Bucky was the best thing that had ever happened to him, ever since he was born Bucky had protected him, taught him how to fight, stuck up for him and they became as close as two boys could be. With how sick Steve had been as a child Bucky was a life line for him, keeping him afloat in school, making sure he wouldn't push himself. In fact if Steve would have pushed himself too much he most likely wouldn't have made it through a couple of years. Bucky was his guardian, ever since his father died Bucky taught him how to be a man, and he supposed he got his sense of humility, honor and duty. 

"Well if it ain't the free dame herself, Margaret how are you doin'?" Larry's voice chimed as his oafish footsteps made it from the store room to the front of the store. 

Steve immediately moved out of his way, closer to Bucky sweeping the dust out the door off the side walk looking up at Peggy who didn't even seem put off by the man insistently using her first name. "Mr.Porter," She replied beaming at him before looking back at Steve and giving him a soft smile. 

The young blonde boy felt his heart jump the moment her chestnut eyes glanced over him. He gave her a sheepish smile; it was amazing, she was the only girl who could make his heart jump like that and it made him feel special, not like he had any chance with her. Bucky must have noticed his sheepish look because moments later Steve felt an elbow in his side. Bucky's infamous smirk staring back at him as he dared to glance up. He chuckled a bit before his best friend took the broom form him and set it aside. 

"If you wouldn't mind Mr.Porter we'd like to take Steve for the rest of the day," Bucky chimed as he clasped his hand on Steve's slender shoulder. 

"Mr.Barnes I'm sorry but he's got a lot of work to do," Larry began as he snapped out of his daze of dreaming of the things he would do to Peggy.

Rage boiled within the younger boy as he knew precisely that Larry was lying. He'd been sweeping for the past hour because Larry wouldn't let him lift heavy boxes or actually help with anything heavier than 90 pounds (anything heavier than himself). Though Peggy was an ace, she could get him, and her team out of anything if she needed to. Flashing an award winning smile and batting her thick eye lashes it didn't take much to make Larry turn a cheek to Steve leaving early. 

Stepping out into the cold winter the young blonde boy wrapped his coat tighter around himself and followed closely behind Peggy, James placing an arm around the boy and began whispering to him tiny inside jokes making him laugh. Steve always looked so sad after work but as soon as James or Peggy stepped into his light it was as though a star burned once again in the sky.  "So where you want to eat Stevie?" Bucky inquired leisurely as Steve tried to curl within himself to keep the cold out of his fragile frame.