"You don't mean that," Steve said promptly, but his voice was shaking, no longer as steady and firm as it had been a moment ago. "You don't mean that." Like if he just kept repeating it, eventually Bucky would relent and say of course that wasn't what he wanted, of course Steve could come in and stay for dinner, and afterwards they could spend some time talking, filling each other in on everything that had happened in the months they'd been apart.
The worst part, maybe, was that Bucky didn't even sound bothered by the words coming out of his mouth. He still sounded so flat and distant, so utterly uncaring of the fact that this was killing Steve.
For a brief moment, Steve found himself wondering if Bucky had simply been waiting for this sort of opportunity, a chance to rid himself of Steve's dead weight. He'd been a burden to Bucky over the years, after all, between the fights he'd picked and the illnesses he'd come down with, time and time again. What if this was just Bucky finally finding an excuse to cut ties, make the break between him and Steve nice and neat?
Even as the thought occurred to him, Steve dismissed it. He'd been a burden to Bucky, yes, but Steve had given him plenty of chances to walk away, and Bucky had never taken him up on it. Not once. This was something else entirely - Steve just wished he knew where it was coming from. It didn't feel right to get up in Bucky's face and argue though, and it didn't feel right to just ignore what he was saying. What Steve wanted was an explanation, to help determine what he did next.
"You give me one good reason," he said, shifting so he could stare Bucky straight in the eye. "One good, truthful reason, why you want me to stay away. And 'it's not the same' isn't a good reason."