Steve ducked his head, flushing when Bucky said Peggy loved him. They hadn't spoken those words to each other yet, hadn't really come close, even, but Steve didn't think Bucky was wrong. He knew his own feelings for Peggy verged on the sort of scary and all-consuming that could only mean love, but he didn't know if they were ready to say that sort of thing out loud yet.
Of course, maybe he should consider it, since he was rapidly running out of time to say anything. But there was a part of him that didn't want to rush, didn't want to push things just because they now had a deadline hanging over them. They'd been taking things slow, and that had been going pretty well for them, and he didn't want to ruin it.
"It's not in the way," Steve said, swinging his foot forward and giving Bucky's shoe a gentle kick. "And we don't gotta forget this. I mean, we can if you want, if that's what you'd rather - " He broke off, made a frustrated sort of face and gave Bucky's foot another idle few taps, like maybe that was helping him get his thoughts in order. "I don't want to make this hard for you," he said. "Me an' Peggy - I know that's gotta be rough, an' I'm sorry. But I don't - I can't watch you ditch me. Not again, Buck."
He sounded distraught with just the thought of it, at the idea that Bucky might start to manufacture some distance between them, walk away when Steve needed him most.
Of course, that was the exact opposite of the idea he and Peggy were proposing, which Steve still didn't see as remotely workable. And honestly, what was he even thinking, having this kind of conversation when he was going to be forcibly removed from the picture as soon as the next reaping took place. Here he was, talking like he and Bucky had years stretching before them to figure out how to navigate this, when that wasn't the case at all.
Steve ran a hand through his hair, damp strands falling back into his face as soon as his fingers were gone.
"Look - I just don't see how this plan of Peggy's works," Steve said quietly, switching topics yet again, but there was too much to talk through here, his mind filled to bursting with things he wanted - needed - to say. "I'll talk to her, but in the meantime - Stark's gonna have a party. A small one, really, with anyone who might want in on shaking things up." His mouth twisted, his eyes going very briefly far away, dark and haunted. "I don't see how we're gonna get any of us outta this Quell, but... for after. We can at least get the ball rolling, and then maybe you, and Peggy, and Stark - whoever's left, maybe you can finish the job."