Bucky found it was a lot easier to go to school the next day. Everything seemed almost too good to be true; he hadn't expected to make new friends so fast. In fact, he wasn't sure if he would ever make new friends at all. He was even more lucky that he had Clint, and it was because of Clint that all of his friends had learned sign language at some point. This made it much more convenient for Bucky.

He wouldn't set an alarm for himself, like his mother suggested. It probably wouldn't even wake him up. Winifred shook him awake again, and though she pretended to be annoyed by having to do so, Bucky knew that it was hardly a hassle for her.

Bucky saw that it was five after seven. He would have much more time to breathe that morning than he did the previous day.

He decided to quickly shower. He stripped from his pyjamas and stepped into the shower, letting the hot water relax his body. He didn't put much effort into his hair, simply tying it up again. Besides, Peggy said that she liked it.

He had more time for breakfast today, so he made himself toast and made small talk with his sister. Rebecca left to go on the bus, and shortly after Bucky left, too.

He arrived at school much earlier. He found his friends who were all sitting around a hexagonal bench. They all greeted him with smiles and hellos when he arrived. The popular group was beside them on another bench, and they all had their eyes on Bucky. It wasn't in a judgemental way, it was more that they just seemed curious because he was new.

"Take a picture, it lasts longer," Wanda said finally.

"We just wanted to see who this Bucky guy was, seems how apparently he was Steve's old pal," Tony said. He looked Bucky up and down once more before turning back to his friends.

Bucky found himself watching their lips as they whispered to each other.

"He needs a haircut," Rhodey said.

Darcy shrugged. "I think it's cute." She had such a loud voice that Bucky didn't even need to read her lips to know what she was saying.

Jane rolled her eyes. "Of course you do."

A few people had their backs turned to Bucky, so he couldn't catch the parts of the conversation when they were speaking. It didn't matter, because he still knew whatever they were saying was about him.

"I mean, he's not bad looking," Tony said to Pepper. "I get why St—"

Bucky felt a warm hand on his shoulder. Peggy was looking at him with her eyes narrowed.

"You shouldn't do that," she said.

"They were talking about me," Bucky defended. "I don't understand. What's so important about me and Steve having been friends?"

"I don't know. But—" She was interrupted by the bell. Peggy let out a heavy sigh. "Right. Well, I have to get going to calculus."

Bucky groaned. "Calculus. I'm in your class, remember?"

Peggy chuckled. "I didn't even notice."

Bucky grinned at her, and together they walked to their calculus class. He was actually very thankful for Peggy, because much to his chagrin he had already forgotten where the class was.

Unfortunately, Bucky was forced to sit on the opposite side of the room as Peggy. Though Peggy didn't seem to downhearted by this, which left Bucky to wonder. Did she not like Bucky after all? Was that just all a facade in front of everyone, and now she was letting it crumble? Maybe it was something else. Or maybe he was just looking into things too much.

Their teacher was a short, stout woman. Her hair was dark and fell just short of her shoulders. She had this sort of unapproachable look to her, and she mostly faced the board to talk while teaching. Bucky knew it was because she was writing out examples on the board, but it meant it was more difficult to hear her if she went into one of her spells of talking in a muffled voice, which seemed to happen more often than not. It was fortunate that Bucky happened to be quite exceptional in math, and he mostly figured things out by looking at the examples when she was done and looking at the textbook.

Bucky didn't even know her name yet, and he had a feeling that he wouldn't ever. Most students avoided talking to her, and when they did they seemed to just call her Miss. If Bucky didn't dislike the teacher so much he would've thought it was a tad bit disrespectful. Was it normal to not address teachers by their names? He didn't know. They did it in grade school, but he supposed things might have been different in high school.

She started going through the list of names. Bucky was the second name called, so after that he could've just as easily zoned out for a moment, but he didn't. He waited for Steve's name. He didn't see any new addition to the popular group that morning, but maybe Steve was just late.

"Steve Rogers." The teacher looked up to an empty seat, an empty seat that so happened to be right beside Bucky's desk.

Bucky wasn't sure whether to be happy or not that Steve would be sitting right next to him. He was still rather disappointed that he probably wouldn't be seeing Steve again that day.

His teacher tutted before writing something down on the attendance sheet. "No Steve again. . ." Bucky didn't hear it, but he saw her lips move.

Steve wasn't in drama again either. Peggy was the only one who seemed concerned by this. The others only waved her off when she voiced these concerns, saying "he's just sick".

Peggy shook her head. "Steve Rogers never gets sick."

Bucky wanted to remind her that back before he moved to Russia there seemed to be more days that Steve was sick than days he wasn't. He didn't say anything, though. Steve had obviously changed, and maybe he didn't get sick anymore.

Was this even the same Steve Rogers that he used to know?

**

"Hey, have you seen Steve at all yet?" Winifred asked Bucky one afternoon.

Bucky was scooping himself a bowl of chocolate ice cream. It was a bowl so large, and he left the tub so empty, that he might as well have just eaten from the tub from the start.

Bucky wasn't feeling too inclined to talk about Steve at the moment, so instead he shoved his face full of the cold, chocolatey goodness. The ice cream dripped from the corners of his mouth, and his cheeks were puffed out and red. Over all, he gave the impression that he was a five year old stuck in the body of a seventeen year old.

"James Buchanan Barnes! You are making a mess!" Winifred said, her hands resting on her hips. She grabbed a fistful of napkins and slammed them down on the counter beside him.

Bucky swallowed loudly, the ice cream chilling his throat. "Sorry Ma."

"Is there something the matter?" she asked, letting a little concern slip through her cold exterior. Leave it to Winifred to know when something was even slightly off with her son.

"It's nothing." Winifred raised a brow. "Okay, fine. Steve hasn't been to school yet. I wanted to see him, and I'm just worried. It's really no big deal."

"Well, I talked to Sarah and I know that Steve goes to your school. She made it sound like Steve was ecstatic to see you again. I'm surprised he wouldn't be there."

"Ecstatic?" Bucky questioned, disbelieving. "He hasn't even tried to contact me since I got back. I don't think he even cares that I'm here."

"I heard he's, like, super hot now," Rebecca called from the living room. "Maybe that's why he's not talking to you anymore. You're super ugly, so he's probably just too embarrassed."

"Shut up, Becca!" Bucky shouted back. He had about a thousand insults, all of which could get him grounded in seconds.

"You're the one who knows where he lives," Winifred said, ignoring her children's exchange. "Have you even gone to say hello?" Bucky's silence was all the answer that she needed. "Exactly."

"I guess Steve moved on," Bucky said sadly. "And I'm sure he was just sick the last few days or something." 

"Sarah claims he hasn't been having any problems for a long time." She yanked the tub of ice cream away from Bucky as he went for even more. "It's a miracle, really. I should talk to Sarah. She can explain what's going on."

So she did. Apparently, Steve had a cold. At least that's what Steve said. Sarah said she thought he was faking, which was strange for him, but she let him stay home anyway because it had been so long since Steve had actually stayed home from school.

Winifred and Sarah had been talking a lot since they moved back to Brooklyn. Steve also apparently knew exactly when Bucky would finally be going to school. Bucky couldn't help but wonder if that was why Steve had decided to not go to school.

Did Steve hate him that much?

**

It was on Bucky's third day of school that he finally saw Steve.

As per usual, they sat at the same hexagonal bench (the only one with an umbrella) until the bell rang. Tony's group, however, wasn't there that time. Bucky had begun to call them Tony's group because while Tony wasn't exactly the leader he was the loudest and most obnoxious, so therefore Bucky noticed him the most. It was much easier to call them Tony's group, and it sounded much better than just referring to them as the popular group.

He wouldn't get disappointed yet; maybe they were somewhere else today because of Steve. He hoped so.

When he got to his first period class the seat on his left was still empty. It didn't mean anything yet.

Bucky could practically feel Peggy rolling her eyes from the other side of the room. She wasn't quite sure why Bucky was so interested in Steve, especially after she explained that Steve was far from the little sickly boy that Bucky used to know.

Bucky didn't notice Steve at first. He saw the tall blond and didn't think much of him, figuring that he must've just been someone that Bucky hadn't noticed before. After all, Bucky hardly payed attention to who was in his classes.

He looked away, not wanting to be caught staring. But he felt it, this guy's gaze burning into his forehead. He looked up, and his met a pair of blue irises. He knew those eyes. They were wide, and seemed to capture the sky as it was when it was mid-afternoon. They were undeniably captivating. Without even having to look at the rest of him, Bucky knew who this was.

"Steve. . . ?" his voice died in his throat.

He took in the rest of him. Tall, blond, extremely muscular. His body was not the same, yet he had Steve's face. Bucky wondered how it was even possible to go from being the Steve he knew to this.

Steve was standing stark still. It was like he was paralyzed. Everyone had to walk around him to get to their seats. No one seemed to mind, which Bucky guessed was a perk of being one of the most popular kids in the school, along with being captain of the football team.

"Bu—James." Steve stumbled forward, catching himself by grabbing hold of the edge of Bucky's desk.

"Bucky is fine," Bucky said, trying hard not to let his eyes wander to Steve's bulging
biceps. His shirt was much too tight—the sleeves threatened to rip at a moments notice.

"Okay." Steve's eyes drifted to where Bucky's metal arm was resting atop of his calculus textbook. His eyes widened, and Bucky felt his insides writhe. He was disgusted. Of course he was. Everyone was. "Ja—Bucky. It's been a while."

"It sure has."

Steve opened his mouth to say something, closed it, then opened it again, looking awestruck and quite like a fish. Instead, he plopped himself down on the seat that had been empty the past two days and stared ahead intently.

Peggy watched from a distance curiously. She stared at Steve a moment longer before turning away, a small frown on her face. Bucky didn't notice this, being much too focused on his own issues.

Bucky wanted to say something else, but he was unable to form the words. All this time, and all this excitement, it was for nothing. Steve had said a few words, sure. Now, however, he was staring ahead as if Bucky didn't even exist. Bucky wasn't sure why he still had some hope. It had been five years. Did he really expect things to be the same when he returned?

He wasn't even sure why he cared. He thought he would be going back to tiny Steve—the Steve he knew. This wasn't even the same Steve. Who he knew was gone, along with their friendship. It was time to move on.

Now that Steve was here that only seemed so much harder to do.

**

A/n: Is this story even good? I really think it's shit.