Bucky pulls Steve up by the arm, frowning as the blond winces in response and folds in on himself. He purses his lips and wordlessly guides Steve out of the alleyway.

Another day, yet another fight. Bucky wasn't sure how much longer he could take this. Every day, rushing in to rescue his friend, too stubborn to back down from a fight. Every day, stressing himself over if he's been injured so badly something might seriously be wrong, and deserve a trip to the hospital - an expensive trip, at that. Every day asking him - nearly begging - to stop and consider himself, stop trying to be the hero, he'll get himself killed. And every day having to witness his words of advice go through one ear and out the other.

He loved Steve, truly, and would do anything for him -- but it was getting out of control. Bucky wouldn't put it past him to try to pick a fight with a bee if one happened to sting him.

Steve follows Bucky silently, lagging a little behind, taking the time to determine how many injuries he's gotten. Still, even if he insisted he was all right, he knew that Bucky would look him over and tend to any bad wounds.

He looks up at the brunet cautiously. Bucky was pursing his lips and occasionally shaking his head. Steve looks down again. Bucky was pissed.

Bucky turns and ushers him up the flight of stairs to their shared apartment. Steve goes up quickly, the latter following close behind.

Bucky closes the door roughly behind them and leads Steve to the bathroom. He silently sits him on the counter and bustles about grabbing the medical supplies.

"Bucky?" Steve speaks, breaking the tense silence. He looks at him, pulling out the first aid kit. He looked a little more than annoyed.

"What, Steve," Bucky responds, somewhat harshly, and Steve swallows.

"I, uh..,"

"Spit it out," Bucky says impatiently, crossing his arms, studying him.

"I'm sorry."

"For what now? For getting into another fight, even though that's the one thing I asked you to avoid? For getting beat up once again, and now I have to once again nurse your *ss? Which one is it?" Bucky snaps. Steve frowns and sits up a little straighter.

"Buck, I have to help -- "

"No, Steve," Bucky interrupts, jabbing a finger at his chest, "what you have to do is listen to me for once. How many times have I told you? You want so badly to be a hero but that's not how things work right now, okay? What if one day I can't pull you out of a fight? What if you get yourself killed?" Bucky rants on and on and Steve leans back a little, letting him go.

"Every d*** day, Steve, every day I have to step in so you aren't killed in a street brawl. Do you have any idea how tiring that can get?" Bucky pauses, taking a breath and running his hands through his hair. Steve sits silently, red with shame.

Bucky seems to compose himself a little, shaking his head. "Look, I promised I'd stay with you. I intend to keep that promise. I love you, Steve, but you're an *sshole," he sighs, rubbing his eyes.

"I know that," Steve pipes up, quietly, after a moment of tense silence. "I'm sorry, okay? I just -- " he purses his lips briefly. "I need to help people, Buck. It's the only thing I can do."

He sighs and looks at him. "Your heart is bigger than your head, I swear," he says dryly and Steve smiles a little at the floor. "All I'm asking for is that you don't get yourself killed. Look what happened today." He gestures to Steve, covered in scrapes and bruises. There was a long scratch next to his eye and a couple ribs felt busted from where he'd been kicked down.

"It's not that bad," Steve argues and Bucky gives him a look, finally stepping in to fix him up with the medical supplies, still muttering to himself.

"Okay. You're good." He straightens up again and puts his hands on his hips, sighing as he studies him.

"Thank you, Buck."

"Yeah. Don't worry about it." Bucky shakes his head and walks out, and Steve slumps a little, huffing.

"Nice goin', Rogers," he mutters to himself before jumping off the counter and cautiously making his way towards the kitchen. Bucky was sitting on the couch, flipping through a book.

"You can stop acting like I'm gonna flip out on you, you know," Bucky says dryly, not looking up.

"You're scary when you're mad."

Bucky rolls his eyes. "Good. Maybe you'll learn that way."

Steve sits beside him and crosses his arms. "Okay. I promise I'll try to stay out of any fights." Bucky looks over at him and raises an eyebrow. "If I do happen to see someone in trouble, though, I'll still help them, but I'll try to use my words, or something."

Bucky snorts and puts his book down, leaning back against the couch. "Yeah? You don't have that kind of restraint."

"Yes, I do."

"You're too stubborn to take no for an answer, Steve."

The blond huffs. "No, I'm not."

Bucky sighs and rolls his eyes once more. "Fine. I'd love to see you try."

////

Steve tried to stop fighting. He did it for almost two weeks; he claimed that was a world record.

In the end, Bucky stepped in for him, stepping up to fight the other guy while Steve tried to reason with him. Bucky himself hated seeing all the bad things happening, all the things Steve fought against. He preferred to handle it quietly, with his words, mainly. Maybe a kick in the pants, a punch, a shove in the opposite direction. Sometimes he followed in Steve's footsteps; rarely, but this was one of the times.

"See? I didn't start it this time," Steve speaks, throwing his hands up. Bucky rolls his eyes, chuckling a little, grunting as he pulls himself to his feet.

"All right, all right, you win," he agrees, brushing himself off. "I didn't know you had it in you."

"Does that mean I can be myself again?"

Bucky gives him a long, hard look. "I can help train you," he says finally and Steve perks up a little. "If you're gonna fight everybody, you're going to need to really know how, okay?"

"Deal," Steve agrees, offering his hand to him.

"And try not to get yourself killed," he adds and Steve nods fervently.

"Okay."

They stare each other down for a second longer until Bucky finally clasps hands with him. Steve tries to keep the smile off of his face.

With a sigh, Bucky wraps an arm around his shoulders and leads him home. Steve smiles to himself.