"Well, you're an idiot," Bucky says softly. "I coulda seen you with Peggy, easy."

And, "'Course you'll always have me," he adds, bumping shoulders - and realizing how very specific that statement is, given how Winter and Soldat have treated Steve. Well. It's true, for Bucky. It always will be.

Except then Steve fucking asks him that, and Bucky just stares at him for a minute, because, "You're a conniving little punk - Fuck, I don't know."

It's maybe not what Steve wants to hear, but maybe it's better than some of the possible answers. Because the answer isn't 'No.' Bucky's just... not sure if it's 'Yes,' either.

He makes an irritated sound and runs a hand over his face, thinking it's both so easy just to open his mouth and let the words come out, but also so, so hard. "I understood why you were gonna leave. When I said you wouldn't be you if you hadn't at least seriously considered it... I meant that, Steve.

"But maybe sometimes I wish you weren't so you that it would've been easier for you to just.... decide to stay, without all the other shit that had to come first."

Bucky glances up, and - well, again, it's honest when he says, "I don't know if that's what you wanted to hear."