Steve had always been a fragile kid. While all the other boys played baseball at recess or tag or kickball or wrestled in the dirt, little Steve Rogers was always the one to sit off to the side and watch longingly, wishing for something the other kids took advantage of. Though he was never alone, he always had Evangeline and Bucky to spend his time with, that still meant Buck could never play catch with him for too long or wrestle in the mud like all the other boys did.

After countless years of constantly being protected by Bucky, after always needing him to help Steve with whatever his weak body couldn't handle or force the little kid to take a break when his bigger friend thought he was going to completely exhale his own lungs, it felt good to finally be able to dish out a few hits and be able to take them back just as well.

Bucky stumbled backwards over his own feet when Steve's fist made contact with his face and the sergeant's ass found a comfy spot in his own mud puddle. His back slammed against the wet ground with an unmerciful SPLAT that sent arches of brown blobs in all directions.

At first, Steve thought that maybe he'd gone too far. He'd hit- well, almost hit a lot of big guys in his time during alley fights and play-ground pick-ons, but not once had he ever shown an act of physical violence towards his best friend, his brother. As great as it felt to possibly start a tussle with Buck, the fear growing inside of Steve's heart became equally dominant over his conscious. It wasn't long before Steve started mentally debating on whether or not he should help his buddy up off the ground or leave him there to gather his bearings.

But before he could let out a string of apologies and start begging for forgiveness, Bucky wiped the specks of mud from his face and a mischievous smirk slithered across his face. No, Bucky wasn't upset for Steve throwing him a good punch; he was elated. For once, he could finally be a normal guy with his best buddy, not just a bodyguard. Just as Steve began to register the excited gleam in Bucky's eyes, the sergeant got to his feet and lunged.

Steve's reflexes had been enhanced to an almost godly level, but nothing could've prepared him for Bucky grabbing him by the hands and throwing the already-disgusting soldier back onto the earth face-first. A chorus of cheers and energetic whistles seemed to rattle in Steve's plugged ears, muted by the wet dirt and filth that had splashed inside. When everyone saw Bucky's smile, they knew this fight was nothing to be worried about- this was going to be just as fun as the brawls that took place on the boat they'd all arrived on less than a year ago.

"Come on, Rogers!" Bucky taunted, his own hyper face colored with a mess of dull browns. Steve smirked just as happily and ran at the sergeant head-first, barreling straight into the giant mountain of a man, wrapping his arms around his torso, and taking him down. He quickly pinned Buck's wrists down into the wet soil, but was knocked off but a quick jab from his friend's knee to the gut.

It was a strange sensation to Steve, being hit multiple times and hardly feeling any pain. Especially when the person on the other end of those blows was Bucky, the best brawler in all of Brooklyn. At least, Steve and Angie thought he was. In all honesty, Steve had never been happier to sock his best friend in the jaw when he himself could take the heat with a smile on his face. After years of Bucky being afraid of being too rough with the little guy, it was as good a time as any to make up for all the frustrations they couldn't properly beat out of each other. 

As the seconds turned to minutes, punches were thrown, elbows were jabbed, feet were kicked and bodies were tackled all in a flurry of testosterone and pent-up aggression. But as the two men were beating the crap out of each other, not once did they stop smiling for the fact that they could finally let loose and knock some sense into each other. For the first time in their entire history, they could stop worrying about hurting the other person and just let go.

"What the hell is going on out here?"

The cheering stopped mid-shout and the two men paused their mud-war, both completely covered head-to toe in dog crap-colored goo, as Colonel Phillips suddenly emerged from his tent to see what all the ruckus was about. When he saw the scene before him, he was not at all surprised.

"Why the hell is it always you two?"

"Uh-"

"That was a rhetorical question, Barnes," Phillips grumbled and rolled his eyes. "Get that shit off of you, there's no way in hell I'm letting you two into my tent in that state. You've got five minutes." In all honesty, the two men and surrounding soldiers were surprised that Steve and Bucky hadn't gotten their asses completely chewed off. But they guessed it helped that Captain America was practically untouchable and the United States' Angel had Howard Stark's ear, meaning if anything happened to Bucky, it would affect all three of them. "All of you, back to business as usual. As horrid as you are at obeying orders, this isn't a damn free-for-all. Get your shit together and move!"

As the crowd dispersed and Phillips returned back to his tent, Bucky and Steve were left to their own devices in their giant wrestling-ring of mud. Steve was the first to get to his feet and he reached a brown hand down to his buddy, who was still grinning like an idiot.

"Damn, you've got a good punch, kid," Buck complimented and took Steve's hand. "For a lab experiment." Rogers hauled the sergeant to his feet and didn't hesitate to elbow him in the ribs one last time for good measure.

"What can I say? You're easy pickings."

They both let loose a chuckle, before Steve cleared his throat and put a serious hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Honestly, though, I'm sorry about what happened. But the bright side is that Evangeline is just on another continent. She's not dead, and the sooner we win the war, the sooner we'll get to see her again. I promise."

Bucky's mischievous grin turned into a sad smile, but it was much less forced than his expressions had been before. 

"You're right, I'm sorry about over-reacting. And thanks, man."

"For what?"

"For letting me kick your ass."

**********

When her teachers and friends would call Evangeline a spit-fire, she always thought it meant that she was feisty, wild, the kind of girl that didn't take crap from anyone. She always thought it was just a figure of speech to express how aggressive she'd get when it came to defending Steve or beating up bullies with Bucky. She never thought she could actually spit fire.

But she learned that day as two men with robotic arms yanked Peggy and Howard from the limo and began to drag them away from the vehicle, across the black asphalt.

The third man, who was the cop impostor, was responsible for 'taking care' of Evangeline, which meant he was the first one to get kicked in the gut, smeared super-human goop across the back of his pants, and punched so hard that the impact of his ass hitting the ground made him physically explode into a ball of flame. The explosion was nothing compared to the first time she'd tried to blow up an enemy, but it still left a shallow, steaming crater in the ground where a Hydra soldier once stood.

The sound of their colleague being literally destroyed was enough to catch the two other soldiers' attention. With their metallic grips still tightly wrapped around a struggling Peggy's arm and Howard's collar, the two stoic men dressed in Hydra uniform pulled their pistols from their belts and aimed at the woman a few yards away. Both Howard and Peggy's eyes bulged out of their heads and frantically began to try and grab their attackers' weapons.

"Are you insane?" Howard shrieked and struggled to knock the pistol from his soldier's hands. "Don't do it! One bullet and we'll all die!"

"Don't be stupid!" Peggy shouted desperately as well. But the two cyborg-soldiers didn't listen.

Instead, they pulled the trigger.

And their bullets made their mark.