There it is, there's the real honest truth, Steve thinks, because Bucky had said amends circuit before, and how he ought to be of service, but that one sentence feels a lot more honest and upfront than the rest of it, somehow.

And the rest of it? Yeah. Steve knows how that feels. He remembers how it felt, being given an apartment and a charge card and a laptop and nothing but time. At least, until the Tesseract had gone missing.

"Well, the man could do to let you have an easy life for a little while," he decides, but now they seem to be here, and he follows Bucky down the hall, suddenly feeling almost weird, thinking about seeing Sam again. It's not that he doesn't want to. It's just that -

It's just that Steve's been here before. Suddenly back in a world that's moved on without him. It's nowhere near as extreme as the first time, of course. But it still sends a wave of discomfort and an unstoppable feeling of being distinctly out of place through him, and he feels like he's floundering for a minute, before he pulls himself together again.

It's just Sam. His other best friend. He'd missed him. It'll be fine.