One misstep was all it took to soil Steve's freshly pressed shirt and he knew he was in for it. He had been playing in a puddle left by the recent rainstorm with Bucky and was accidentally pushed a little too hard, causing him to stumble and splash muddy water onto his shirt.

"Your ma's gonna kill us.." Bucky muttered, frantically trying to scrub the mud out with a cloth. However, it was no use. The more he scrubbed, the more the mud smeared into the white fabric of Steve's shirt. He groaned and tossed the cloth over his shoulder. "It's my fault, I wasn't being careful."

"It's okay, Buck. It was an accident." Steve said as he bent down to grab his shoes and socks. "We just gotta go rinse off before she sees."

"Steven Grant Rogers! What in God's name have you done to your shirt?"

Both boys froze like deer in headlights and Steve groaned, hanging his head. "Too late..." He slowly turned to face his mother, who was standing on the front porch with her hands on her hips. Before he could open his mouth and say something, Bucky stepped in.

"It was an accident, Mrs. Rogers. We were roughhousing a bit and I pushed him too hard. I'm sorry." Bucky humbly apologized, expecting her to go off on both of them for playing in the mud. Instead, she just sighed and shook her head.

"It's alright. Why don't you boys come inside and get cleaned up? There's pie on the table when you're done. I don't want it to go to waste."

"Yes Ma'am! C'mon, Steve." Bucky grabbed his shoes and tugged on Steve's arm, pulling him along. He wiped his feet off on the grass in the front yard so he wouldn't track mud into Steve's house and hopped up the stone stairs, dipping his head to Mrs. Rogers as he walked inside. He had been to Steve's house so many times that he practically knew where everything was. The bathroom was down the hall and to the left, just across from Steve's bedroom.

Steve joined him in the bathroom after grabbing a new shirt and was in the midst of pulling it over his head as he waited for his turn to use the pail of water sitting in the corner. This method of washing saved more water than if he were to fill an entire bathtub and take a bath. Besides, he wasn't too fond of baths now that he was older. Once Bucky finished with the pail and sponge, Steve sat down and began scrubbing his feet and calves. Bucky had gone over to the mirror and was fixing his hair by running his fingers through the velvety brown locks. "Why're you fixin' your hair, Buck? It's not even messed up."

Bucky snorted, brushing aside a few stray hairs with his hand. "It is messed up, you just can't tell because you're used to looking at that mop of yours." He replied with a snicker, fixing one more hair that was out of place before bending down to pull on his socks. "You always have to look good just in case there's a girl around. You wouldn't want to give off a bad first impression, would you?"

"I mean... I guess not." Steve said, forgetting what he was doing for a second. He huffed and pulled the laces of his shoe apart so he could start over since he had messed up. "I'm no good with girls anyways. They never look at me because they're always looking at you." He scoffed as he pulled on his other shoe and began tying it.

"You're only sixteen once, Stevie. You gotta shoot your shot at some point."

Steve simply rolled his eyes and stood up after he rolled down his pant legs. "Yeah, well, it'll happen when it happens. I'm not gonna rush things."

Bucky laughed and gripped his friend's shoulder, gently jostling him around as he strolled out of the bathroom. "Then you better hope you find a girl who's willing to wait before you go away to school. Now let's go eat some pie, I'm starving!"

***

As usual, Bucky stayed for dinner and stuck around afterwards. He often stayed late because his mother wasn't too restrictive on when he had to come home.

They were hanging out by the large oak tree in Steve's backyard, with him laying on a branch and Steve sitting at the base reading a book. The sun was just beginning to set, painting the sky with brilliant shades of red, purple, and orange. Bucky was occupied with carving a chunk of wood with his pocket knife. He whistled a soft tune as he carved, being careful not to cut himself on the blade. After a while, he got bored and leaned over to the side so he could look down at Steve. "Are you readin' one of those romance novels again?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why does it matter to you? You hate those kinds of books." Steve replied as he flipped the page, too engrossed in his reading to bother looking up at Bucky. He was taking a break from art and had gotten into reading again. While art and books were both favorites of his, he liked to switch between the two in order to be more balanced.

"I hate romance novels because they're so cliche! I just don't understand why you like to read them when you aren't very interested in anything romantic at all. Whenever I bring up anything about a gal, you do that thing where you zone out and don't listen to me. You won't even come with me to the diner until you're sure that no girls are coming!" Bucky exclaimed, though it was all part of the facade he was trying to maintain. He was seen as a ladies man, so he acted like a ladies man. However, as he grew older, his mindset began to change. He started questioning himself more than he ever had before and had no idea that Steve was the cause of it all.

Steve had so many things that he just wanted to blurt out, but he couldn't. Everything was  bottled inside of him and he intended to keep it that way. "Buck, did ya ever stop and think that maybe I just wanted to focus on other things first? I don't care if everyone else is gettin' girls and goin' on fancy dates and whatnot! I guess I'm just not ready for that right now, you know?" He retorted, marking the page he was on and closing the book. He got to his feet and brushed off his pants before looking up at Bucky, his book in hand. "You understand that, right?"

Bucky's mouth hung open for a few seconds before he closed it. Words leapt into his throat, unsaid confessions that just wanted to be heard. He couldn't let them go. Not because he was afraid of sounding like an idiot, but because he wasn't so sure they were true yet. Deep down, he was conflicted. His feelings and thoughts were clashing with what he had been taught as a kid in the society he lived in. After a moment of silence, Bucky got a hold of himself and regained his composure. "Of course, Stevie..." He answered softly, sliding off the tree branch and landing in front of Steve. "I didn't mean to push ya that much, I was just... curious, that's all. You're not upset, are you?"

Steve stood there for a few seconds, then let out a soft sigh. "No, of course not. I can't be upset with you. You're my best friend and I know you would never want to upset me." He said, smiling halfheartedly. His heart skipped a beat when Bucky returned the smile, but he passed it off as a side-effect from the small adrenaline rush he just had from getting a little fired up.

Bucky sighed in relief, glad that Steve wasn't upset because of his little outburst. He held out his arms and gestured for Steve to come over. "C'mere and gimme a hug, punk." He chuckled, feeling Steve's bony arms wrap around his torso. He held Steve close to his chest, squeezing him a bit but not so much that it hurt him. "I'm sorry. I promise I won't push your boundaries like that again, okay?"

Steve nodded, gently pulling away when the hug ended. He could feel his heart fluttering, almost like a butterfly was trapped in his chest. That was new, he had never felt that before. But still, he brushed it off as nothing. He had a bit of heart problems and just assumed it was something to do with that. Hopefully it was nothing bad, of course. "Okay, jerk." He teased, playfully punching Bucky's shoulder.

"Bucky! Your mother is here for you!" Mrs. Rogers called from the house.

Bucky glanced over at Mrs. Rogers before looking back at Steve, cracking a quick grin. "Gotta go. See you tomorrow!" He called as he darted off towards the door, waving at Steve with one hand.

"See you!" Steve called back, raising his free hand to wave back at Bucky. After his friend had disappeared into the house, he felt a sense of loneliness overcome him. Now it was just him and his thoughts. He would have to wait until tomorrow to be with Bucky again. With a heavy sigh, he reluctantly trudged towards his house. His thoughts would certainly keep him awake tonight.