As far as offers go, this one is fair. Bucky's concern is familiar in its lack of sentimentality- Yes, during the war, he was touted as my sidekick, but that really wasn't it. We looked out for each other. We had to. Of course I felt a kinship for each and every soldier we fought beside, but there's camaraderie and then there's family. As much as they could, the Avengers became that for me, Sam became that for me, but it was never...

Well, it was never the same. Regardless of the years of distance between us and all that's going unsaid, that will probably go unsaid for a very long time, there's still that.

Having Bucky at my back should be nostalgic, but it isn't. In what I fear is a rare sort of moment for me, this feels very much in the present, removed from time though we may be.

"Deal."