Bucky watched Steve get up, fuss with coffee that, for once, neither of them was drinking. Bucky had barely touched his, and it was still hot. It wasn't Steve doing something that needed doing or playing host. It was busy work. Avoidance. He didn't want to look at Bucky.
Bucky gave himself a second, while Steve's back was turned, to sag a little, half shut his eyes. Fuck. He'd known, but there was that little, dumb, twisted part of him that had remembered what Peggy said, had thought maybe ... maybe. He hadn't expected, hadn't believed, hadn't even really quite consciously wanted Steve to do anything but let him down, because Peggy was good for him - would be good for anyone - and they should get this time without complicating it worse than he already had. But some part of him had still had some little baited-breath wondering.
But no. He'd known. And Steve, who never could just fucking let anything go, wanted to ignore Bucky had said anything, except for the parts that were a plan.
Bucky could let him. He'd dropped his bullshit in Steve's lap. Letting Steve pretend he hadn't heard his best friend was a fuck up who had been twisted up over him for years - Bucky would do that. Steve deserved that from him.
By the time Steve looked back, Bucky had managed blank again, and he shrugged. "They might not like you, but they love a story. And Natasha's not who Peggy wants to try to save. She wouldn't want to put a show on for her - and there's no point in doing it to try to save me. I'm the only one everyone knows is safe."
Bucky tried to just put it aside, how he felt, how guilty he felt for blabbing about it, how ... awkward and stupid he felt. He just focused on the rest. "It's not all about the Districts," Bucky said. "They're who are gonna be in the worst of it if anything ever happens - but you really think some Capitol people with pull starting to turn on Stane won't help us out in the long run? It's about keeping us in line for us. For the Capitol, it's about the show. They don't need to be kept in line - they need to be kept busy and content so they keep him in power. If we remind them that Stane is fucking with their show by taking out all the players - might make some of them start giving him a hard time. It won't hurt anything. Might not help, and he might not cancel, but a few friends with money isn't a shit thing to have, either."
Bucky leaned back a little. "Just ... think about it, all right? You can talk to Peg, tell me what you decide. Tell her to tell me. I should get going anyway - Wilson's hanging out at my place. Moo'll probably try to eat his face." It was a shit excuse. Bucky had just gotten here, there was no real logic to needing to leave other than him trying to make a quick, graceless exit. He knew that, he just ... couldn't think of anything better to say.