Sarah Rogers heard a knock at her door and went to open it. "Hi Bucky. How are you?" she asked brightly.

   "I'm good, thank you ma'am. Is Steve okay? I haven't seen him in a while," he questioned.

   "He has influenza...He's in his room if you want to go say hi. Please don't get too close to him. I don't want you to get sick too." Sarah asked him. Bucky nodded his head with an acknowledging smile and walked over to Steve's room, knocking on the door.

   "You can come in Bucky..." Steve said weakly. Steve had gone from pale to paler, and looked like he was half dead, bundled up in his bed, covered in about 5 blankets. His walls were covered with a pealing off-white wallpaper with a layer of pea green paint underneath. It smelled musty. No wonder why Steve's athsma bothered him all of the time.

   "I got your work from the teacher if you  want to do it," he explained setting supplies on the floor of his room, "but school's out tomorrow so..." he faded out, "you alright?"

   Steve sat up slowly, "No," he said plainly. "But this happens to me a..." he paused "uh oh" Bucky saw Steve grab his stomach and jumped to his feet to get a trash can. He handed it to his friend just in time. Bucky put his arm around Steve's back. His father did that for him when he got sick, and it always helped him feel a bit better. After Steve had finished, he wiped his mouth with his arm. "Thanks Buck," he said.

   "Sure, that's what friends are for," he answered.

   "Could ya get me some water?" Steve asked. Bucky nodded and left the room.  When he returned, he realized how scrawny his friend truly was. He had taken off his now soiled shirt, and it looked as though a skeleton was occupying the bed. James handed Steve the water and asked "Do you even eat???"

   Steve looked up sheepishly and answered "I'm sick too much. I can't keep the food in me." Then he added, "We don't..." he paused for a moment, as he was about to share a fact he had always shielded from others. "...have much either. My pop..." he paused, "well we don't get money from him"

   "Why?" Bucky asked. He hadn't met Steve's father yet. His assumption was that he was always at work.

   Steve paused for a second. He realized he hadn't told Bucky yet..."He was killed in the Great War," he explained, trying to tighten his face to an emotionless expression. He was the man of the house, so it didn't matter if he was elementary aged, sickly, and small. If anything, these factors solidified more that he had to be tough.

   "Oh...I'm sorry," Bucky said, wishing that he didn't bring up the topic.

   "It's okay, that was when I was only a month old...I didn't really know 'im," Steve explained. Regardless of his efforts, tears welled up in his eyes. Bucky got up and sat next to him. Sure, he remembered Mrs. Rogers' warning not to get close to him, but he felt bad for his friend and deemed him much more important than his health.

"Ya know if you ever need more food or anything I can get it for ya," Bucky explained, "I'm sorry about your Pop," he added.

"Thank you Buck...but you don't have to worry about me." Steve said, wiping his nose, not knowing what else to say. He sipped at his water.

"...I gotta go...I told my ma I'd only be a few minutes late," Bucky explained sheepishly, rubbing his fingers through his hair *

"Okay, see you soon," Steve replied, smiling weakly.

"Bye," Bucky returned, and stepped out of the room. On his way home he thought about his own father in a new light.  Sure, he wasn't always the most easy going, but he was his pop, he loved him.

Author's ((( (((<,^,>))) ))) Note
Okay, so I know this is a little confusing. In the comics, Steve was an orphan at a young age and Bucky met him then. However, in the movie Steve's mom Sarah didn't die until he was at least 18. Also, in Captain America: the first avenger Steve said his father died of muster gas in the 107th infantry. Honestly, I think that was a lie to get him in the same infantry as Bucky, because in the comics his father was an abusive alcoholic that just disappeared. Poor Steve...ANYWAYS I'm taking the liberty of making a few changes, as well as meshing the movie and comics. Sorry I didn't clarify this in the first place. If you freak out about incorrect facts like I do sometimes (Steve's serial # is 54985870! 😂someone gave him a different one once...) and you really want something changed, please comment and I'll consider. Thanks for reading!! Rogersbarnes22 out *salute*

***If you are reading this after 2/8/16 I did change the first chapter in order to clarify what plots I was working from (if there really are any). Sorry for the repeat of information for my new readers...thankfully @ClintonFrancisBarton pointed out that I never clarified this and I edited it.***