Steve shakes his head, and then seeing Bucky look down like this, he walks over and pulls him into a hug. He'd never been shy with physical contact with Bucky before, and he isn't about to start now. "What, you're just mine? That's it?" Because he hadn't thought he'd care all that much. He used to be HYDRA's, he used to be an assassin. But he isn't anymore. And yeah, maybe he has to be associated with Steve, but that's just the stepping stone, right? That's just until people realize that that assassin he was is gone. The HYDRA in him is gone.

But they'd already done that now. He's got his pardons, and though everyone still expects the Winter Soldier to be a little dangerous, most people now at least don't think of him anymore as the Winter Soldier.

So okay, maybe keeping him around had been selfish, even if Steve had just thought they could fight together again, just like in the old days. Yeah, he was missing most of the team, but it didn't matter, because they'd all moved on, had lives, had children, and their children had children. But these two were left.

He takes a breath. "You want me to move out? You could... go solo for a bit. You could be a single agent again. Pick up a new moniker." He'd struggled to get away from Captain America for a little bit there, but he hadn't really had to deal with it for very long before taking it back up.