Author's (((   (((<,^,>)))   ))) Note
Someone asked me to put up a picture of my sling so that's what's above.  I promise it'll all make sense at the end of the chapter.  Oh and yes as soon as I painted it people started calling me Bucky 😂 It was great.  Hope you enjoy this chapter!!  Rogersbarnes22 out *salute*

   When Bucky woke up it was around 9 o'clock. Should he wake Steve up or let him sleep. Nah who was he kidding, what would he do while Steve was asleep? He picked up his pillow and tossed it at Steve. "Wake up," he urged.

Steve's eyes slowly opened, the first words he muttered were, "Gil's gonna kill us."

Bucky chuckled and then stated "We've held our ground plenty of times before. Don't worry 'bout it." Steve nodded. He was shivering a bit, cold from the unfinished floor, and pulled his blanket tighter around himself. "Next time I'm taking the floor." he told him.

"Why?" Steve asked, trying to stop his teeth from chattering.

"Cause you're a Rogerscycle right now" Bucky remarked.

   Steve half frowned. "Am not..."

Bucky shook his head "Whatever you say, Steve. I'm hungry."

"Me too," Steve added. Then he sat up, pulling the blankets he was using with him, and made his way to the door.

******************************

"Whatcha wanna do now?" Steve asked Bucky as he took his dishes to the sink. Buck responded by shrugging his shoulders. "We could race each other," Steve suggested.

"Really Stevie?" Bucky asked looking down at him.

"Fine...ya think we could play stickball with two people?" he then asked.

"Sure, we just have to use ghost-men*..." Bucky explained,"ya better take it easy".

Steve laughed "You can only wish to be so lucky. I'll go get everything." he said getting up to get his baseball, "and I'm Val Picinich!**" he added over his shoulder as he walked away.

"Shoot..." Bucky replied, as this was both of their favorite players. If anyone looked at the two of them, they would have pegged Bucky as a sure win in any sport. However, Steve loved baseball. He listened to it on the radio anytime he could and played whenever he was healthy enough to. More often than not, Bucky was bested by him. They were out on the street in front of Steve's house, but neither of them minded the scrapes of the harsh pavement.

The bases were loaded. Bucky pitches the ball to "Picinich" who hit it a few feet to the left of him, out of his reach. He started rounding the bases. Bucky ran to get the ball and Steve quickly looked over his shoulder to see how close Bucky was. He was stooped over to get the ball.  Suddenly a Pontiac Coupe rounded the corner. Steve sprinted towards the automobile and waved his hands around to get their attention. It didn't help. Both the driver and Bucky were oblivious of what was going to happen. All of this action happened in a matter of a second and then Steve shouted franticly "BUCK! MOVE!" Bucky looked over his shoulder and saw a car nearing him. He dove out of the way just as it reached where he was standing. Steve's heart was beating a mile a minute. He knocked on the window as the automobile passed. It was brought to a stop and the window moved down. "You almost just ran over my pal over there!" he shouted at the driver. "Watch what you're doin'!" he ordered.

The man looked over at Steve in silence not seeming to care much. He started driving away. Steve was angry with him but there was nothing he could do now. He jogged over to Bucky who was still on the ground, almost hyperventilating. Steve crouched down next to him. "You okay Buck?" he asked, putting an arm on his shoulder. 

  Bucky jumped at his touch "AH!" Steve quickly lifted up his hand and Bucky continued "I almost just got hit by a-a-an automobile." he stammered.

"Let's go inside," Steve said getting up and offering his arm to Bucky.  The boys went to Steve's room, and Steve saw that Bucky was bleeding through his shirt. He went to get some bandages and a damp cloth. When he came back Bucky was sitting on his bed his eyes filling with terror.

   "It's okay Buck" Steve said pulling a chair up in front of Bucky. "Can you take off your shirt so I can help ya?" Bucky grimaced as he slowly pulled his left arm over his head. Steve's eyes bulged as he saw that Bucky's shoulder was swollen to about three times its normal size. He was covered in scrapes from his chest to a few inches under the bottom of his rib cage. It looked like someone had taken a needle and etched x's all over him.
   "...you need a doctor" Steve said gesturing to his shoulder. Bucky nodded, his eyes watered looking straight ahead, in a state of shock still. Since Bucky was clearly in no condition to tend to his own wounds, and Mrs Rogers was at work, Steve dabbed the cloth over his chest to try and subdue the bleeding. He wrapped it up to the best of his ability. Bucky was shaking the whole time, which made Steve feel terrible for him. 
   He then wrapped up his knees, which were even worse than his chest. "We'll get some snow for your shoulder on the way to your house so your ma can help you" Steve said. Bucky nodded, still silenced by shock, but looking a little still petrified.

On their slow walk to his house, Bucky broke his silence by saying, "I can feel the shoulder now Steve," Tears welled up in his eyes, which Steve ignored. If he was swollen up like a balloon he would cry too and there's no way he'd want anyone saying anything about it.
   He began slowing down, limping and wincing with every step. The cuts on his knees were pretty deep. Steve pulled his good arm over his shoulder, taking on some of his weight.

"How bad is it?" Bucky asked.

"Remember that news story about the hot air balloon that blew up to..." Steve started.

Bucky lost color in his face and cut him off, "Yeah, I remember. That car was probably driving 30 miles an hour...if it hit me it would 'a knocked me out cold. I'm glad you warned me. Golly, with those tires I coulda been a one armed wonder," he joked, chuckling and then sniffed.

The boys had cut through Steve's backyard, so they arrived at Bucky's after their brief conversation. "Mrs. Barnes?" Steve said when they entered the house. Bucky's father was at work, but his mother was home with Becca. She heard Steve's voice and was confused. Bucky was going to stay over at his house for the day. She walked to the door and gasped. Her son's chest was wrapped up in bandages, his shoulder was an odd mix of pink, red, and purple, and she could see blood coming through bandages around his knees. She probably would have fainted in any other situation, but she knew that James needed her.

"What happened?!" she asked desperately. She gestured Bucky to sit down and Steve walked him over starting to explaining everything.

"We were playin' stickball in front of my house and I hit the ball about a hundred feet from the corner...bout 40 from us and Bucky went to get it. A Coupe turned the corner and I started waving my hands at the driver. I shouted at Bucky to move and he dove out of the way just in time, but he must have landed on his shoulder and his knees" Steve explained, adding more detail than necessary because he didn't know what was necessary.

"Thank you Steven," she said very gratefully as Becca walked into the room.

"No problem ma'am...he's my best friend," Steve answered. "I didn't know how to help him with his shoulder." he told her.

"James?!" Becca exclaimed in fear as she saw him. She ran over to his side.

"I-its okay Becca. I just fell is all. Don't worry. You just k-keep playing and I'll come up and play with you as soon as I feel better okay?" Bucky tried to keep his voice as even as possible to reassure his kid sister. He didn't want her to be afraid.

   "Okay..." she said, still worried. "Promise you'll be okay?"

   "Yes Becca, cross my heart." Pleased with that response, she reluctantly went back to her room.

"I'm going to the Bianchi's. They have a phone, and I can get on the horn with the doctor." She put her hand on her son's cheek. "It'll be okay James."

"Thanks Ma" James said pulling at the bandages on his knee, which was stinging terribly. "Steve?" Bucky questioned.

"Yeah?" Steve responded.

"You know more about this kind of stuff than me," Bucky stated, which was true. Steve's mother was a nurse and he had been to the doctors so many times, he had picked some things up through observation. "Whadaya think they're gonna do?" he asked.

"It depends on how bad it is...worst thing would be you broke it and..." he trailed off.

"and what, just tell me." Bucky urged

"And they can't fix it so it just doesn't work anymore" Steve finished.

"Oh," Bucky said suddenly getting very nervous.

Steve could see this and tried to help. "But I don't think that's what happened. It's probably out of place. When you get there they'll give you something that dulls the pain."

"Alright..." Bucky said still anxious. He HATED hospitals.

His mother had returned so Steve said quietly, "Hey Buck?"

  "What?" Bucky responded.

  "I won," Steve he said grinning.

   "Aw shut up you punk," Bucky replied chuckling and lightly punching his arm with his good arm.

   A few minutes later the doctor showed up. He was sent to a hospital and x-rayed. Steve wanted to go with him but Mrs. Barnes took precidence. So he waited, staying back to watch Becca.
Bucky was allowed to go home the day they gave him the verdict. He had a sprained AC joint, torn a couple of ligaments, and dislocated his shoulder.  Plus, he needed stitches for the gash on his knee. The best they could do for his shoulder after pushing it back was to give him a triangle sling and something for the pain.  Steve rode home with the Mrs. Barnes, Becca, and Bucky just before his mother got home.

"Thanks for the ride Mrs. Barnes!" Steve said politely.

Mrs Barnes hugged him. "Thank you for looking out for my boy." Steve smiled.

  Bucky had gotten out of the car to say goodbye. "Feel better pal,"  he said patting his good shoulder.

   "Thanks Steve," Bucky replied.

   "I'm with ya till the end of the line!" he said, getting out of the Barnes' car and saluting him before jogging to his front door.

*If you don't know what ghost-men in sports are, they are used when you don't have a lot of people playing. Say Steve got a double. He'd say "ghost-man on second and go back to home to hit again. If he runs to second again, the "ghost-man" would run ahead of him to third. If he then got a triple, the ghost-man would get a run.  Basically, it was invented for small pick up games.

**#1 batting record on the Brooklyn Dodgers in 29. (And former Red Sox player😎)

***Me and Buck are twinning with the slimg😑...not fun. But it was the left shoulder, so I painted a Winter Soldier arm on my sling and that makes it all better😂 (Comment here if you want me to edit this chapter and put a picture of it up top)