Fondue
Bigger Bullies

"Who would like to share next?" Mordo looked around at various family members.

"Can't help but notice how many of these stories involve family members doing stuff we wish they wouldn't..." Bucky laughed. "Guess things really aren't that different now than they were seventy years ago."

"Which time were you thinking of, exactly?" Steve asked his brother.

"Which time wouldn't I be thinking of?" Bucky said wryly. "Your skinny-ass runt self was taking on bullies from the minute you could lift a fist. And just when I thought you'd be safe, cuz the serum made you as big as the bullies... Suddenly you're all 'I'm big now! Time to find bigger bullies!' Honestly, I should have seen that coming..." He laughed.

Logan raised an eyebrow. "What exactly did you do?" He glanced at his son.

A slightly sheepish look came over Steve's face and he glanced at his own children. "I'm just going to say...I don't recommend following my example. I've learned much better behaviour since that time."

***

Steve looked at the beer he'd been given, but although he gave every appearance of being drunk...it was impossible for him to get drunk. He was really just going through the motions, while keeping an eye on the commotion that had started in one corner of the bar.

A group of large guys had cornered one of their number...someone smaller and weaker like Steve himself had once been...and it was obvious that things were going to turn ugly. And it had never been in Steve to stand by and let someone else get hurt, even if the person who ended up hurt was him.

But he had the serum now. He was much stronger than the group, even if they were bigger than he was now 

Draining his beer, Steve stood and walked to where the altercation was beginning to get physical.

Bucky had been drinking his own beer, joking with Dugan, when he'd noticed Steve get up. When he noticed which direction he was heading, he sighed softly, standing up to lend his support. As much as he hated how often Steve got into fights, he wasn't going to tell his friend to not protect someone smaller; not if he was there to back him up, anyway.

Steve could tell that Bucky was joining him to offer support and he appreciated it...even if he didn't outright acknowledge it. He approached the group who were hassling the other member, only stopping when he was close enough that he wouldn't need to shout to be heard. "I think you need to leave," he said.

"Yeah?" The apparent 'leader' of the group turned to Steve, drawing himself up to his full height...a full head or so taller than Steve. "Who's gonna make us?"

Bucky sighed again internally. If the big bully wasn't nervous about Steve, that meant Steve's focus would need to be on the big guy. Which meant Bucky would be fighting the guy's friends. He smiled as Dugan came up beside him. Morito, Jones, and Dernier weren't far behind. Bucky raised his chin slightly and waited to see if Steve could diffuse the situation.

Even before the serum, Steve had been pretty close to fearless, despite facing off against bullies so much bigger than himself. Even if Bucky and everyone else hadn't come to back him up, he wouldn't have chosen to back down. "You can leave of your own accord, or I can throw you out," he said. "It's your choice." He was partly speaking out of bravado...and partly to keep the big guy's attention, and that of his fellow thugs, on him. It would give their victim a chance to leave before the fists started flying.

Bucky knew what his brother was doing, so he shifted closer, but not next to, Steve. If the bully's attention was divided between Steve and Steve's obvious back up, they wouldn't notice the smaller victim sneaking away...which he was doing.

Steve didn't really expect to be able to diffuse the situation. His main goal had been to give the would-be victim the chance to get away.

He didn't expect the bully to immediately start throwing punches...but thanks to the serum, he was able to duck out of the way pretty quickly and only receive a glancing blow to the side of his head.

Noting that the victim was out of the way and that the main bully was already throwing punches, Bucky and the other commandos with him immediately moved to neutralize any support the bully might have. Like most bullies, when they realized they were facing people who could actually defend themselves, the ringleader's cronies decided they weren't interested in a fight and took off, leaving the one facing Steve all alone. Bucky snorted, wondering how long it would take the guy to realize he was outnumbered and his gang had left him high and dry.

It didn't take the bully long...although longer than it really should have done...to realise that he was on his own and that the rest of his gang had abandoned him. Just like his 'friends', he proved himself to be a coward when faced with being outnumbered and outmatched in skill.

Bucky didn't feel the need to chase after the bully when he made his escape and none of the others did either. Instead, he glanced at Steve. "You okay? The guy you were helping ran off, so I can only assume he is okay."

Steve nodded. "No injuries. I didn't see any on the guy...." He couldn't be sure, of course, given that the man had taken the opportunity to flee.

"Yeah." Bucky sighed. "Me either..." He meant both for himself, and he didn't see any dangerous injuries on the guy they rescued. "Hopefully, he went somewhere they won't follow and he has back up..." He snorted. "So. Who else is hungry?"

Nearly all of the guys were. Bucky looked at Steve. "Wanna go to Madelein's? She serves dinner late."

Steve nodded. "Sounds good to me," he agreed.

***

"Of course, I've grown much more responsible now," Steve said. "And I wouldn't recommend copying my actions...unless you have backup you completely trust with you, of course." He smiled at his brother.

Jessica snorted. "Somehow doubt we'd get away with it, if we did do something like that without calling for backup... Or at least letting someone know what is going on."

"No, you wouldn't. And neither would your dad..." Logan smiled, though his eyes were serious.

Steve smiled wryly at his dad. "Despite what Bucky says, the serum did make me more responsible. I knew I'd have backup from Buck and the others."

"I know. And you're more responsible now," Logan agreed, giving Laura a hug as he smiled at his son. 

"Seems like the biggest time for family to potentially do dangerous things is when they are trying to help someone else..." Kamran said hesitantly.

"That's a fairly accurate assessment." Blake agreed with his son's statement. "I think all of us can relate to that."

"Which is why communication is so important," Bruce stated.

"It makes sense," Dane said. "All of us got the hero bug in one way or another...."