The Soldier And The Cabbie

Back Alley Hero

December 19, 1941

Needless to say, Steve Rogers did not make a move. The next five months leading to December were full of thoughts of the beautiful girl with skin the color of coffee and eyes like fresh earth after rain, which was both a blessing and a curse. He had never been good at talking to women and, while he didn't have much trouble talking and teasing with Elaine Bauer, the sort of talk that would woo a woman came even less naturally to his mind when he was anywhere near her. But, Bucky wouldn't let up. Every time the two boys were alone after dropping Elaine back at her house when they finished whatever activity they had found the time for, the brunette found a way to bring it up. The worst was when they had gone to a bar downtown, in the snow, and late at night.

    Some jerk had made a pass at Elaine, at which she had merely rolled her eyes and dismissed the boy in annoyance, but even Bucky was ready to strangle the guy. Of course, while he had restrained himself, Steve had slipped away from his two friends, quite a feat when Elaine often spoke to him and Bucky watched him like a hawk. But, he had still managed it, and the following conversation was quickly taken outside, which had then escalated to blows, leading to now, when Steve Rogers was slugged in the side of the head hard enough to knock him down. The guy who had disrespected Elaine looked down at him almost in amusement, though it mixed with disbelief when the blond boy stood up again, putting his fists up the way Bucky had showed him. His lip bloody, a cut on his forehead, and a nice shiner forming on his left eye, the little guy looked defiantly back at the other boy.

     "I can do this all day." The guy laughed, going after him again, when a door slammed open, and both boys looked to where the light streamed out. For the other guy, this meant a punch in the face and lights out. For Steve, that meant Elaine rushing up to him, and looking him over for injuries, of which she was unhappy to find plenty.

   "Steve, what the hell!" Bucky exclaimed, once they had returned to the diner, and the nice lady behind the counter had allowed them to use the back room and the first aid kit to mend their stupid friend. The blond chuckled slightly, his ribs hurting a bit when he did so.

   "Language, Buck." The corners of Elaine's mouth twitched, but the worried expression stayed as she began to clean and close the wound on his forehead. Bucky rolled his eyes, still pacing back and forth in a harried manner, exasperated with the boy who had become a brother to him.

    "You can't keep doing this, Steve! It's like every time you go somewhere, I have to bail you out of some fight that you started! I swear you start a fight with everything that moves!" At that, Elaine did smile slightly, before the worry came back.

    "It's true, Steve. It's almost worse that they don't take you seriously, cause they just want you to stay down." Steve frowned.

    "I'm not sure why they don't think I'm serious." Elaine chuckled now, starting on the split in his lip.

     "Because you're basically a tiny dandelion floof of concentrated righteous fury. They don't think you can even punch 'em in the first place, which is a stupid assumption anyway." Steve laughed at her description of him, because it was basically true, and she said it in such a way that it was impossible to be offended, which was helped by the fact that she certainly didn't mean to offend him. Bucky sighed, dragging a hand down his face.

    "Steve, please. Just try not to pick a fight for one week, okay? I'll go grey before I'm thirty at this rate." Elaine smirked.

    "I'm not even going to ask why it happened this time, but really, Steve. We don't want Barnes turning into more of a grumpy old geezer than he already is before his time. You know we're with you to the end of the line, Steve, but you getting beat up every other day is about as bad for our health as it is for yours. Just keep your head down for at least one week, mister back-alley-hero, and let the two of us relax from making sure you don't get your head bashed in. Then you can pop up again and punch someone if you think you're gonna explode, okay?" She finished cleaning the cut on his lip, and raised an eyebrow at him. Steve sighed, but the smile didn't leave his lips.

    "Yes ma'am." Elaine laughed and, after pulling the blond to his feet, proceeded to drag them both back into the bar, where Bucky was promptly whisked away by some redheaded dame who wanted to dance. Elaine and Steve sat at a table in a corner, talking for hours. A few offers came for Elaine to dance, but she declined each and every one to keep sitting with the little dandelion floof she had become so fond of.

    Finally, the three decided it was time to go. Well, more like Bucky had to be rescued from the redhead, who hadn't let him off the hook for two hours straight, and the only excuse they could come up with in the moment was that it was late and they had to head home. As soon as they were outside, Bucky sighed in relief.

    "Thank you, so much. If I had to dance through one more song, I was gonna drop."  Steve laughed.

    "She sure had a lot of energy." Elaine grinned, giggling with them.

    "I'm more interested on how she could dance for so long in those heels! They were longer than the torque wrenches at the shop! I'm amazed she didn't break her neck with how hard she was diggin' the jive."  They laughed, continuing predominately in this vein until they reached Elaine's house and walked her to the door, a duty that Bucky left up to Steve. Once this was done, the two boys walked down the street again, Bucky's pops coming to get them once again on his way home. Bucky turned to his friend, a knowing look on his face. Steve sighed, knowing what was to come, but asking the obvious anyway.

     "What?" Bucky smirked.

     "That fight was about Laney again, wasn't it." Steve sighed again.

    "Yup." The brunette's smirk only widened to a teasing grin.

     "That's the fifth time in two weeks, not to mention all the ones since June, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the ones since April make the list too." The blond rolled his eyes, trying to look nonchalant about it.

   "Yeah, so?" Bucky groaned in exasperation.

   "So... what's the holdup? The whole thing not getting through that thick skull of yours? You like her. Can you tell yet?" Steve looked at him.

   "I'm no good at picking up dames, that's for damn sure. But no one ever made me so nervous, and that's gotta mean something, Buck, if nothing else I'm feeling does. Every time I see her, I feel like my stomach is trying to digest itself. Any time she starts talking, I can't pull my attention off what she's saying, even if she's spouting some nonsense that randomly popped in her head, it becomes the most important information in the world. And God forbid she smiles at me, cause that just means I'll stumble on my words and make myself look like a damn fool while trying to breathe properly, and she'll just laugh and keep talking like I didn't just embarrass myself worse than Bobby Crow did in third grade when he tried to flirt with the teacher." Bucky looked at him, smiling.

  "Hate to break it to ya, pal, but you aren't just crushing hard on her. You love her."