Love is just a bloodsport

Warrior of bones

When Bucky Barnes met Steve Rogers on the playground his first impression was not encouraging, Steve was just a child with a malnourished appearance, pale skin and a skeleton that threatened to come out of his body with every sneeze. Nothing in his appearance betrayed the greatness of his heart or the height of his spirit, only the clarity in his eyes came to betray his strong sense of justice, not doing anything was never an option for him and despite his weak arms and legs, Steve did not let himself be intimidated by bullies, at the expense of his own well-being, the little boy with fragile bones used to get into more fights than he could handle. 

Perhaps for that courage that went against all reason Bucky admired him despite not having spoken to him until that day when he saw Steve sitting on the verge of crying.
No matter how hard the beating was, Steve never gave the others the pleasure of seeing him surrendered or begging for help, maybe this time he finally realized that he would never win no matter what, Bucky would not blame him, there was only one way to find out:

-So, you gave up?-

-I can do this all day-

Bucky smiled, that was the kind of response he expected from him, throwing in the towel was not his style, even with everything against it. Bucky was surprised at how much he knew about Steve just by having seen him dealing with his "enemies" ,  his assumptions about him were right:

-If you want...I can teach you to fight-

-I know how to fight-

Steve looked at Bucky sternly, but even though his blue eyes cast fire, his face was emaciated, Bucky did not want to hurt his pride, so he reformulated his offer, Steve Roger was a warrior, but even warriors need an armor:

-Alright, then let me teach you to win-

The blonde looked  at Bucky , searching for some trait of lying or mockery on his face, without finding it, his initial expression was one of disbelief, but soon a smile settled on his thin lips as he nodded, someone besides himself trusted that he would be able to win and that was all the motivation that Steve needed to accept.