"Huh."

Well, that's a thought. Not... a bad one, actually. "He'd be good with it," Steve muses softly, but that's maybe a problem for - not right now. A little later down the line. Right now, Bucky's his main concern, and, "Can I sit down?" he asks, because he still isn't sure he should, but he knows he wants to. Having whatever this conversation is going to be while towering over Bucky is not the way he wants to do it.

Plus, he needs just a second to process the rest of that. Gone back to Carter. Started some new timeline with her. It's... well, shit. It's tempting. He'd thought about it, actually. A lot.

A lot.

"Guess that settles that, then," Steve admits, although he doesn't sound either particularly surprised or particularly remorseful.

Nor does he waste any time in dropping down next to Bucky as soon as it's clear that's an okay thing to do. In fact, there's a little breath that escapes him, almost involuntarily, when Bucky's hand grips his shoulder and the muscles there relax just a little. He's still not sure what happened, how badly he's messed up, but he is sure that they'll figure it out. Together.

"Far as I know, and I've been me my whole life," he offers over with a wry, lopsided grin that's got just this little bit of regret to it, now. "I'm sorry," he adds, a moment later. "For - this," he says, because he isn't sure what all's happened, but clearly something. Some older version of himself, showing up and clearly stirring up shit.

You know, that... kinda sounds like something he'd do, so there is that.

"But yeah. I'm really here, and I'm kinda planning on staying. If that's a thing people might be okay with."

"People" being largely Bucky, but... yeah, some other people, too.

It feels warranted, really. Bucky staring at him, trying to work out just how much trouble Steve is in before he says something. It's not a feeling Steve loves, but it kinda seems like maybe he owes Bucky this much. And then some. And then a lot more.

He can worry about paying down that debt later, though; first, he's got to pass whatever test this is.

Including being poked in the face, apparently. Steve might even have a question or a quip forming on his lips about that one, yeah, but it doesn't have time to come out before he's pulled into a hug that -

That... Jesus. His arms come up around Bucky pretty much on automatic, Steve's body turning more towards his, trying to tug Bucky a little closer, encourage him to lean in. whatever he needs. The last time they really talked was... well, it was a long time ago now for both of them, it seems. Too long ago, and that's how it always goes with Bucky, isn't it? Everything since he'd left for the war has been stolen moments that are too few and far between. He wonders, vaguely, if maybe that can change now. He has to admit, as his arms tighten around Bucky just a little, that he'd like that. A hell of a lot.

"Yeah," he breathes, not really sure Bucky needs the reassurance anymore, but it's what comes out. "It's me. I'm here. Sorry, Buck. Sorry."

"That's what you got?" Steve laughs, "I told you so?"

But it's kind of a wet sound, despite his attempts at stoicism. The thing is... yeah, he was always planning on coming back. But he knows what it's like to be on the other side of things, and it's clear that's where he'd left Bucky.

And he is sorry for it. It's not a thing he can take back, just another thing to throw on the big pile of things he's done to Bucky that he can't take back.

One hand loosens just enough to move a little, rub slow circles between Bucky's shoulder blades, one flesh and bone, one edged with metal, even if the other stays tight around him. It will until Bucky pulls back, and not a heartbeat sooner. "I missed you, too," he says, and whether he means while he was gone, or all the long time before that, stretching out until it feels like the decades it really is... well, if it's unclear, maybe he just means both. "Been a long time."

Yeah, Bucky's gonna have to catch him up. But Steve can't think of anyone better to do that - SHIELD had certainly fucked it up, and he'd done okay on his own, but Bucky... out of everyone in the entire world, sometimes it feels like Bucky's the only one speaking the same language. Maybe it's because of how they both got here, where they both started. Maybe it's just perfectly logical, but it doesn't change the fact that it's true.

"What, you think I'm gonna take that away from him?" Maybe he didn't make that decision, but even though he's known about it for all of a minute, it still seems like a good one. "Think again," he says, letting out a breath. Maybe he's just been forcibly retired.

Maybe he should feel worse about that than he actually does. Maybe he will, but... not right now. "Catch me up first," he decides. "But maybe... I would really like to put on some normal clothes before that, if I'm being honest," he admits, maybe breaking the moment a little, but he doesn't think it's going anywhere, really. "Am I... I feel like I might be homeless." Six months isn't that long, but conversely, it might be long enough. Is anyone even still at the compound? Things had been changing so fast.

"Please don't make me wear an Iron Maiden t-shirt," is the response to that, although the truth is, he'll wear what's available. Even if it is Tony's. Even if he feels... a little strange about that, after everything.

Still, he moves to follow Bucky, letting him take the lead, still working through what he'd said earlier. "If you've got a place in Brooklyn, what are you doing all the way out here?"

Because clearly it's not occupied. And no one was expecting him.

"Oh."

What the hell else can Steve say to that? He maybe feels like - well, like he's the one who's just walked on his own grave. If that's even a thing.

Of course, add in a healthy dose of guilt, but at least that's familiar and almost, weirdly, comforting. "Yeah," he finally gets out, shuffling from foot to foot in the hall, wanting to reach out, put a hand on Bucky's shoulder, and suddenly, overwhelmingly, feeling like he almost has no right.

It's not a feeling he likes. At all.

"Sorry," he murmurs, glancing away, even though Bucky's still got his head in the closet. "I really didn't mean - well. You know." He sighs. "Any luck, or am I stuck wearing my pajamas?" Because at least that will maybe lighten the mood.

"Guess I'm not used to that," Steve murmurs wryly, but it doesn't change the fact that he's still going to feel responsible. At least a little.

He catches the clothes that come sailing at him, and then the grin turns from wry to just bemused. "Yeah. I'm good."

He hesitates for only the briefest of moments, but the house was clearly empty and it's not like Bucky hasn't seen him get changed a hundred million times, so he sets down the clothes on the nearest surface and starts working his way out of the quantum suit. "Got any shoes in there? Or is that just a pipe dream?"

He feels like they should... talk. Or something. About more than borrowing shoes. And yet he doesn't quite know where to start without wanting to apologize over again, so he puts it off a little longer.

Steve finishes pulling on the clothes and considers his options. He'd prefer boots, but if they're going to be small, the sneakers probably have a little more give. He settles onto the couch next to Bucky to pull them on, hip to hip, feeling a little guilty for taking no small amount of reassurance from that fact, and just hoping that maybe Bucky can get some of the same.

He lets out a breath as Bucky fills him in, however briefly, and finally sits up and back after the laces are tied. Some of it, Bucky said, which doesn't mean all of it, but Steve's not surprised. Of course it was going to be bumpy. And he absolutely doesn't regret what happened - winning, for all that they'd lost to do it - but he does regret not being here to be a part of the transition back. For leaving that on Bucky and Sam's shoulders, apparently.

At least it sounds like they'd had at least one of the tools they'd needed to do it.

"But there's still gonna be work to be done," he murmurs, glancing at Bucky. "So, count me in."

"Could be," Steve says, like that could ever actually really happen. "But I learned CPR as part of my SHIELD training when I woke up, so we're all good, there."

But yeah, even his expression sobers when Bucky goes on. Supersoldiers. It's always supersoldiers, the serum, people wanting to be better than humanity, like being human isn't an amazing thing in and of itself. Like being humane isn't the goal.

It isn't, for everybody, and he knows it well by now.

"Right," he breathes, and there's a part of him that misses Natasha so acutely in that moment that it feels like his heart is being squeezed in a vice, tighter and tighter, before he swallows, forces himself to go on. "So... are we taking a wait and see approach, or do you think we should go on the offensive?"

Steve is much more of an offensive kind of guy, but fighting this kind of battle, going after information that could be lurking anywhere, is absolutely not his forte. Even if they wait, though, he imagines there's still plenty to do in the meantime. "I understand if that isn't the most pressing problem," he adds, for good measure.

Steve nods - well. To the first part.

"Amends circuit?" he's got to ask, because he can guess, he can even do so with some degree of certainty. He also knows how he feels about the need to be on said circuit in the first place, whatever it involves, but he keeps his mouth shut until he hears more because it's not like it'll be anything Bucky hasn't heard before.

It might be worth saying it again, but - he'll have to see.

Steve's face does... something, like he's trying not to frown and it's not really working overly well. Sure, it makes sense, that Bucky should see someone, talk to someone, who at least knows what it's like to be a soldier. So, that part seems okay, sure.

But the rest of it? Steve doesn't think Bucky owes anybody an apology, which is maybe why the whole frowning-trying-not-to-frown thing he's got going on. He gets trying to stop people that HYDRA might have enabled, through the use of the Winter Soldier.

He also knows that Bucky takes it much more personally, and nothing Steve can ever say will change his mind.

"Is that... helping, then?"

"Sam's a smart guy," Steve admits softly, trusting that input, because Sam's been here, and Steve hasn't. And Sam, he knows, better than some court-mandated therapist who's probably fine, but he can't be sure. Maybe he's learned to be a little wary, after SHIELD turned out to be half-rotted from the inside out, and not even Nick Fury had caught on.

But, "Is... being of service to people what you want to do?" He knows there's duty, and responsibility, and if Bucky feels responsible, then maybe that's what he needs to do. Hell, if Bucky feels lost -

"When I, uh." Steve glances away, ends up jiggling one leg a little, then stops. "When I woke up. And I didn't have anything. Or know anybody. I wanted to still be of service."

Hell, he'd jumped at the opportunity, whether it had meant fighting aliens or making (horrible, cringe-worthy) PSAs. It had been something to do. It had been some good he could still do.

Hell. He'd done the same thing after the snap, hadn't he.

Maybe he's just trying to say that he gets it. Sometimes that's what you need, when you have nothing left.

But Bucky doesn't have nothing left, anymore.