A Hero's Friendship

Team Up and Take Down

Recess ends and Rogers is still in the nurse's office. The children go back to class for two more periods before the final bell signals the end of the day. The front doors of the school burst open and a sea of elementary and middle school kids all rush out, pushing and shoving. 

But when all the other kids are racing to get as far away from the school as fast as they can, one boy stays behind to ask his teacher about the wellbeing of another classmate whom he barely knows. 

"Ms. Thompson?" Bucky Barnes says timidly, fiddling with the edge of his jacket as he stands by the door. 

Rebecca Thompson looks up from where she is shuffling papers into a desk drawer. "Yes, Bucky?" she says with a tired smile. 

Ms. Thompson had to send two boys to the principle for pulling a little girl's hair, one girl went home after throwing up her entire lunch at the front of the classroom, and one poor boy had three different nose bleeds throughout the course of the day. 

"Well, I was just wondering if Steve was okay," Bucky answers, seeing his young teacher busy and not wanting to be a bother. 

"Steve? Steve who?" Thompson asks, putting a hand to her forehead in thought. 

"Steve Rogers. He hasn't come back from the nurse's yet," the boy answers. 

"Oh, Steve Rogers," Rebecca says, returning to her papers. "Yes, he's fine, it just took a little while for his nose to stop bleeding. Have a great day, Bucky." 

Bucky smiles at his teacher and walks down the hallway to the front doors of the school. Once outside, Bucky shoves his hands in his pockets to guard against the autumn chill. He thinks about the pancakes and bacon his family are going to have that night, in honor of his little brother's birthday. 

In the midst of his daydreaming about creamy butter and thick maple syrup, Bucky is attacked from behind.   

He faceplants into the dirt, and the boy on top of him—the infamous Eddie Baker—grabs a fist full of Bucky's hair and uses it to rub his nose in the soil.

"I'll teach you to interrupt me when I'm teachin' somebody else!" Eddie grunts, punctuating each word with another twist of Bucky's hair.   

This time it's only one-on-one; Eddie and Bucky alone in the schoolyard, Eddie's friends probably already home or serving detention for something else.

Bucky gasps, trying to turn his head to breathe something other than grass and dirt. The bigger boy's knees trap Bucky's torso and pin his legs down. His hands scramble around on the ground, futilely seeking something he can use to bash Eddie on the head. 

"You don't care a thing about that little sniveling dork, do you? You just wanted to tattle on me because you—" 

Eddie doesn't get to finish. His words are drowned out by a great war cry, surprisingly enough emanating from little Steve Roger's snarling face. Eddie turns to see the comical sight of knobby-knees Rogers sprinting toward him, screaming in some other language. Steve collides with Eddie, amazingly able to knock him off of Bucky. 

Eddie stands up with Steve hanging off his back like a monkey stealing a piggyback ride. Bucky stands up and spits, dislodging dirt from between his teeth. He tenses, sensing a fight but not fully grasping the situation. He doesn't understand why this little guy would come to his rescue when he can't even defend himself. 

"Go!" Steve gasps, "I got him!"   

Bucky starts to shake his head just as Eddie throws Steve off of him, doing a half turn to pound him into the ground. Bucky takes a page out of Steve's book and impulsively jumps onto Eddie's back. He locks his hands together in front of Eddie's throat, and when Eddie tries to sling him off like he did Steve, Bucky's arms tighten and cause him to choke.