Bucky blinked, bewildered.

"What just happened?" he asked, picking himself up and dusting himself off.

"You just got slugged by a dame," Steve said, grinning. "That's a first. Must be losin' your charm." He did make sure Bucky was steady on his feet, though.

"That's never happened before," Bucky said, watching the girls go. He grinned a bit. "I like her."

Steve really couldn't help it; he started laughing.

"You would, Buck," he said, shaking his head. "Try not to get yourself clipped next time, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Bucky rubbed his face a bit, covering a wince. "She's got a good punch, for a dame."

Steve grinned at that. "Come on, jerk," he said. "Let's get you cleaned up." Shaking his head, he headed back inside.

"Punk," Bucky said as he headed inside as well. Yeah, it would probably be a good idea to get something cold on his face.

Julia didn't see the guy she'd punched for two weeks after that. And she didn't feel bad. Not really. Okay, so she hadn't been lying when she called him pretty, but he did have some kind of horrible flirting habits, and really, she hadn't lost anything by punching him.

Even if he was pretty.

It was a couple of weeks before Bucky saw the girl again. When he did, he couldn't help but watch her. She definitely had spirit, and he liked that, and she was very pretty.

Julia noticed Bucky as well and lifted an eyebrow before she looked at Clare.

"Pretty-boy is back," she murmured. "With his friend. Think he wants to get punched again?"

Clare couldn't help but grin a bit.

"Maybe," she said. "We'll see." She paused a bit. "You know, now that that shiner is gone, he really is pretty."

"He is," Julia mused. "His friend is cuter too without the split lip." The dark-haired one really was kind of pretty, though.

"This is true," Clare mused. "He's a bit on the skinny side, though, isn't he?"

"A little," Julia agreed. "Too short for me, but he makes up for it in gallantry, apparently." She grinned. "Sounds like a knight for you."

"Hush, you," Clare said, giving her friend a playful push. "I'm not the one watching the pretty one."

Julia grinned, unrepentant. "Hey, he's there, might as well watch," she said cheerfully.

"If you say so," Clare replied. She did, however, glance at the blonde again. He was a bit scrawny, yeah, but he was still kind of cute, she had to admit.

Julia smiled secretively at that, but refrained from commenting, instead just continuing on her way for now.

Bucky watched them go.

"She's some dame," he commented, watching until the girls turned a corner.

"Yeah, she is," Steve agreed, although he preferred the other one. She was just as pretty, if not prettier, and while quieter, she didn't seem shy, or anything. Then he grinned, looking at Bucky. "Better be careful or you'll be head over heels soon."

Bucky snorted.

"You're one to talk, punk," he said with a grin. "You can't see your face right now."

Steve shoved him a bit and shook his head. "You know that's not gonna happen," he said reasonably.

"Never know, she might go for the scrappy artsy type," Bucky teased, just taking the shove.

Steve rolled his eyes and shook his head. He doubted it, but he wasn't going to push any more for the moment.

~*~

Bucky absently flipped through the pages of the digital textbook he'd been assigned as he waited for the lecture to start. He'd long since decided that distance learning was a beautiful thing, but he hadn't been able to avoid the hybrid class he ended up registering for, and so he had to show up on campus in person at least this once to attend the mandatory lecture on engineering. He figured it fit into his architecture course of study well enough, what with material stresses and applied physics and such, so he really didn't mind making the trek to the MIT campus for it. He had no idea who the speaker would be, but it probably wouldn't matter much, so long as he got credit for being there.

Hopefully, nobody would ask why he was gone for a couple of days.