Between having a new boyfriend and dealing with his sister Bucky didn't have much time for his friends. When he wasn't worrying about his sister, he usually wanted to spend time with Steve before his other friends. Although he felt guilty for this, in a way, Steve was actually his best friend.

At least, that's the way it had been. The two still hadn't made up, and Bucky wasn't exactly ready to face Steve at school just yet. It wasn't as if they had a huge fight, Bucky was just in a pissy mood overall. It was probably just as simple as telling Steve he was sorry, but he was afraid that Steve wouldn't think so. He didn't want to end up saying the wrong thing.

The next day came rolling around, and it was already off to a bad start. Bucky spent the morning tiptoeing around his sister, who avoided him like the plague. She had an outburst, insisting she would get to stay home. Bucky never envisioned it getting to this point, though he supposed it wasn't surprisingly. In the end, Winifred convinced her to get her ass out the door and onto the bus, which she had almost missed.

As much as Bucky didn't want to go to school, it would be at least a little less suffocating than staying at home with his sister.

He arrived at school shortly after, and though since the cold winter weather his friends still hadn't migrated back to their bench at the front of the school, it was never hard to find them. Everyone's lockers were scattered, but they usually congregated around Wanda and Pietro who always got to school first.

Everyone was already there. Mostly. Bucky was unsurprised to find that Steve was missing, but he had probably just decided to shift back to Tony and the others. Bucky allowed himself to breathe as he said hello to everyone.

"Where's Steve?" Pietro asked him. When Bucky didn't have an answer he added, "you guys have been acting strange lately."

There was a few nods in agreement and some noncommittal noises. The sound of a student wailing down the hall caught everyone's attention for a few moments, but Pietro spoke up again, drawing them back to the conversation.

"Whats going on between you two?" It was like he was staring directly into Bucky's soul, and Bucky just had this feeling that he wouldn't get away without an explanation.

Another distraction came in the form of Steve Rogers himself. Bucky didn't even notice Steve until there was a hand on his shoulder and he startled, looking back to meet Steve's eyes. He tried to catch a glimpse of what Steve was feeling in those eyes, but there was nothing.

"Hey, Buck," Steve said.

"Steve," Bucky said, and it was all he could do not to sound surprised.

The tension was still high; Bucky could feel it. But suddenly Steve had just decided to act as if things were normal, at least in front of their friends, and Bucky wasn't sure if he should go along with it or not.

"Are you busy during lunch?" Steve asked, and it was such a strange thing to ask considering it was usually just assumed that they would spend their lunch together, and if it were otherwise, Bucky would tell Steve. Expect, of course, things just weren't normal between them. Strange was now perfunctory, when only days ago they were tied at the hip.

Whatever act steve was playing only did little to convince everyone around them.

"Actually, I—"

It was all just a series of being interrupted, first by Steve and then by the bell. As much as he didn't want to go to class, he was suddenly grateful for the opportunity and didn't waste any time hurrying off to his locker to grab his books.

The rest of the day continued on like this, with Bucky trying to avoid Steve and he wasn't even sure why. He had wanted to patch things up with Steve, and now that he had the chance he was afraid. He didn't want to make things any worse than they already were, and as it was talking to Steve was like walking through a minefield.

Though lunch did come around, and Bucky was not sought out by Steve. Bucky felt disappointed by this, though not too surprised. It was his fault, after all. He had given Steve the impression that he didn't want to talk, which was only partially true.

Since Steve was strangely missing yet again, Bucky took the opportunity to try and help out his sister instead.

He didn't know exactly where Rebecca went during lunch, but he figured it wouldn't be too hard to find her. There were only so many places someone could go during their lunch hour without being able to drive.

Bucky was easily able to cross the cafeteria off his list since he and his friends were always there, but he never saw Rebecca around. Next was the library, which luckily put an end to the search before it turned into a wild goose chase.

Bucky stopped her before she even got through the doors. She looked slightly annoyed, but she let him hold her in place.

"What do you want?" she demanded, already itching to escape his grasp.

When she did suddenly pull away, Bucky was confused until he saw Stacy and one of her friends sauntering down the hall. Stacy sent a nasty look their way, and then continued on. Once they were gone, Rebecca was still turned away as if to prevent Stacy from seeing her, but it clearly hadn't worked.

"I was going to suggest that you should come hang out with me and my friends for lunch," Bucky said. Slowly, Rebecca turned back around, and Bucky was shocked to see that she actually looked afraid. "If you want."

"I don't want to look like an idiot. Your friends are all three years older than me!" A few students wandering the halls looked their way, some smirking and others looking uncomfortable.

"You won't look like an idiot," Bucky promised. "Sharon hangs out with Peggy and everyone else. She's younger."

"Yeah, but she's only a junior," Rebecca pointed out. "I'm a freshman!"

Bucky let out a sigh of frustration. "Fine. I won't help you then. Yesterday you gave the impression that you wanted us to help you, which we're all trying! I just don't understand what you want. Oh. Right. . . To move to Russia and screw everyone else's lives over."

Bucky hadn't meant to say it, and he was only glad that he said low enough that no one else could've heard. But still, everyone around them must've sensed something was up, and were watching the two siblings intensely.

"Okay," Rebecca said.

"Okay, what?"

"I'll go with you," she said. "For lunch."

"Okay."

Neither seemed to know what else to say. They had just been about to start another intense argument, and both had things left unsaid, but the thoughts were left simmering in the deepest, darkest parts of their minds.

Instead, they said nothing and Rebecca followed Bucky back to the cafeteria in an  uncomfortable silence. Bucky was desperately hoping that his friends wouldn't say anything and somehow his silent wishes were granted. Their expressions hardly changed as Bucky entered the cafeteria with a miserable Rebecca in tow. If anything, Steve shot him a knowing look that was hardly noticeable, especially for someone who doesn't know Steve very well.

They sat, and the silence carried on for a few moments longer. The previous relief that Bucky felt quickly turned into an uncomfortable silence, and it didn't even go away when Pietro finally broke it.

"So, cafeteria food is pretty shit, isn't it?" he said, impatiently tapping his feet against the floor.

He didn't direct the question to anyone specifically, and no one really responded, though Rebecca absentmindedly nodded her head.

Bucky kicked her foot from under the table, and she angrily muttered, "what?" under her breath. It was quite obvious now that everyone at the table was carefully avoiding looking at them, and it would've almost been better at that point if they just gave Bucky and Rebecca their undivided attention.

"Do you have food?" Bucky asked his sister, who was looking down at the table and playing with the end of her sleeves. It was one of those days when the warm weather was just beginning to come, and it was surprisingly hot for a March day. Though, not anything comparable to summer, just in the way that spring weather felt after leaving winter. That in between stage when no one knew what to wear because in a sweatshirt it's too hot but it isn't quite t-shirt weather yet.

These thoughts all filled Bucky's head, a plethora of nonsensical things, almost in an attempt to distract himself from the fact that his sister really was in a tough spot, somehow.

She never answered, and so Bucky continued, "I thought Mom made you something."

The silence no longer carried on, as Peggy had taken to talking about their latest bio test. Bucky shot her a grateful look before turning back to his sister, who was finally willing to talk now that they weren't in the spotlight.

"She did," Rebecca said. "I'm just not hungry."

Which usually shouldn't have been a big deal, but yet it was. Every little thing that Rebecca said or did seemed to concern Bucky, and as much as he didn't want to move away, he couldn't help but question more and more if it was for the best.

However, that would mean accepting defeat. Accepting that there was no hope. And the thing was, Bucky still had hope for his sister.

"The bio test wasn't that bad," Bucky said, because it was that bad. He mostly just wanted to drop the subject altogether.

Steve watched him from across the table curiously, and it was just then that Bucky realized he was even there at all. He had never finished telling Steve that he was busy at lunch, but it would've backfired anyhow.

"Hey Peggy, what's going on with you and Celia?" Bucky regretting saying it almost immediately, especially after a chorus of oohs ensued.

Peggy's face immediately turned red, though the corners of her lips were slightly upturned.

"Oh!" Pietro said, causing a few heads to turn. Pietro just had that way of causing the entire cafeteria to turn their way, and the cafeteria was usually a madhouse as it was, infested with rowdy freshmen. "Did you make a move?"

"Not exactly," Peggy said, her shoulders relaxing slightly. "She talking to me while I was in the library this morning. Don't give me that look! Nothing even happened."

At that last part, her smile fell.

"Hey, these things take time," Steve said. "Look at Bucky and I. You just have to make the first move. If you don't, you never know what you could be missing out on."

But it didn't seem like he was talking to Peggy at all. Bucky and Steve shared a look across the table, almost like a silent apology. Without words, they both stood up and slipped out of the cafeteria.

They went to the nearest classroom, and as soon as the door was shut both said, simultaneously, "I'm sorry."

"No, but I am," Steve said.

"Me too," Bucky said. "I should've known that you would probably go away to school."

"And I should've understood why you need to be there for her."

"It's okay," Bucky said truthfully. "You should know that I really don't want to go. I'm going to try everything I can to convince her to stay. It's way I invited her to hang out with us today."

"Yeah. . .she didn't seem too happy about that."

"No." Bucky sighed. "But she agreed. It's a start. Maybe I can convince Sharon to reach out. They're at least closer closer in age."

"Yeah."

"And. . ." Bucky trailed off. He hadn't realized it at first, but they had slowly been inching closer together. By now, Bucky could feel Steve's breathily against his lips, smelling like cool mint, and sending shivers throughout his body.

"I promise you that even if you do move to Russia we'll make this work."

"I know," Bucky said, barely getting out the words before their lips had collided.

They didn't, however, get very far at all. Steve roughly pushed Bucky away, and he was left confused and hurt until he saw Mr. Fury standing before them, and eyebrow raised.

Bucky's face felt like it was on fire. It wasn't like he was worried his teacher would tell the whole school or anything, but he still felt incredibly embarrassed, and it looked like Steve was in the same boat.

"I've gotta get back to my sister," Bucky said, side-shuffling past Mr. Fury.

Steve was right behind him, mumbling me too, though he didn't have a sister.

As soon as they were well out of earshot they both started laughing, though Bucky was sure that he could never look at his History teacher the same way again.

"I can't believe that happened," Steve said.

"I know," Bucky laughed, but his laughter was quickly caught off when they entered the cafeteria and he noticed that his sister was missing.

"Where's Rebecca?" Bucky asked as soon as he approached his friends.

No one seemed to have an answer, and Bucky wasn't in the least bit surprised. He wasn't really thinking when he slipped away with Steve, and he shouldn't known better about leaving Rebecca behind. Of course she wouldn't want to stay with a bunch of people older than her, and her brother's friends, at that.

He was an idiot.

"I guess I have to go find her."

**

A/n: Sorry that this chapter is such a mess. Also, the short make up between Steve and Bucky was written purposely, since their argument was brief in the first place. If that makes sense.

Only three more chapters and an epilogue left :) Maybe some of you aren't happy about that, but I kind of am. Sorry not sorry. I've put a lot of the writing I actually want to do on hold, and I've lost a lot of interest in stucky and the MCU... oops

This story would have been better if I wrote it as an original. Ohh should I do that?

Should I do a Q&A?