Written in the Stars: Bucky Barnes

1. The beginning

Stella Rose Turner lived a fairly unassuming life, born October 31st, 1917 a mere two weeks after Evan Turner her father was killed in battle. Her mother struggled to raise the girl with the kind of life she had hoped to provide but they made due especially with thanks to a sweet elderly neighbor Mrs. Franklin she had never had any children of her own, so she gladly helped care for the Turners as if they were family. Stella would commonly be gifted books pinning her as a very quick outcast, not that she minded she preferred the company of like-minded people and those were in short supply.

Today she found herself once again under her favorite tree pouring over her newest book Mrs. Franklin had given her a few days before as an early birthday gift. After several chapters, she closed the book not wanting to finish it too quickly in fear she wouldn't have a new one for a while. She leaned her head back against the scratchy bark of the tree and looked up as the sunlight filtered through the few remaining leaves, a chill catching her skin as a cool summer breeze signaled the upcoming fall. The thirteen-year-old closed her eyes appreciating the quiet Sunday afternoon she thought what it would be like to be the characters in the book laying in her lap having amazing adventures. She was pulled from her daydreaming by a sudden shadow looming over her. Her brow furrowed as her eyes snapped open with a frown wondering who had decided to bother her. A boy stood there with a shy grin. She guessed he had to be pretty close to her age. He had bright blue eyes and blonde hair and was fairly scrawny even for being a young boy. She arched her brow waiting for him to give some sort of reason to have decided to bother her "Can I help you or did you plan on standing there all day staring?" she asked clear annoyance present. It wasn't that she was unfriendly, it was more that most boys her age had taken to teasing her relentlessly for her interests and therefore she decided to try not to give any of them the chance to bother her further.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Steve and that's Bucky and we see you here a lot reading alone," he said motioning to the other boy standing not too far behind him. "I- we wondered if you might like to be our friend." Steve finished, taking Stella back. The small redhead stood looking both of them over as if waiting for them to laugh at her and tease, but she saw nothing but genuine hope in both their eyes that she might say yes. She considered it for a moment before sticking her hand out towards the scrawny one called Steve. "I'm Stella Rose Turner and if you both are playing at some kind of game and only intend to tease me I promise it's the last thing you'll do." The other boy started laughing immediately causing Stella's face to heat up in anger, figuring it to be an admission of their intentions.

"I told you she'd fit right in with us Steve," Bucky said walking over to them both and grabbing her hand shaking it firmly "James Buchanan Barnes but everyone just calls me Bucky." Stella was officially confused at what just happened. She dropped Bucky's hand and looked him over. He had brown hair, stark blue eyes, and a crooked grin.

"So you're not here just to tease me and ruin my nice afternoon?" Stella inquired.

"No, we were really just wanting to be your friend," Steve said, obviously a little frightened by the forwardness of the girl "see we don't have a lot of friends and we see you here alone almost every weekend and figured it might be the same for you."

Stella let a smile break across her face then letting her defensiveness melt away knowing she was in no position to be turning real friends down. "I think I'd like that." The three spent the rest of the day learning about each other and walking around their neighborhood until the sun started to go down. They found out they all lived fairly close to each other and established a meeting place for each other before the boys walked Stella home much to her chagrin. "You both don't have to walk me home you know? I walked home just fine before you both came along."

"Yes, but both our mothers would kill us if we let you walk home by yourself. It's not gentlemen like." Bucky retorted, chuckling at the girl's stubborn nature. She knew there was no point in arguing with them having learned they all shared a stubborn streak and Steve's moral compass was set in stone. They said their goodbyes and Stella walked into her apartment with a smile setting her book down on the counter.

Her mother looked at her as she finished setting food down on the table and took in her daughter's obvious good mood. "Was the book that good?" she asked.

"No, I haven't even finished it yet," Stella considered telling her mom about her new friends. ''I made some friends today." Mrs. Turner was elated knowing how difficult it was for Stella to make friends. They spent the rest of dinner talking about her new companions and how much Stella seemed to like them. Stella's mom was quick to catch the different ways she spoke about the boys and how obvious it was a crush was already setting in Stella for a certain brunette boy. Stella finished her nighttime chores and went to bed with a smile, happy to finally have people who seemed to understand her the book on the counter long forgotten.