Bucky's mouth curled at the edges, caught for a second by a flash of something familiar in that reflexive, slurred snarl. Maybe it was just having Steve on the brain, but that felt like an echo of Steve, small and snapping at Bucky that he could handle himself just fine. It made sense, Bucky guessed. If Loki told the truth, then he was the little kid, trying to stand taller than he was once upon a time, too. Maybe still was
"Sure thing," Bucky said readily. "You got staying power. Just making sure. I don't have a count on how many bottles you've had, and even rockheads from 2 fall down if you soak 'em in enough layers of booze." Since that's what Loki was, down beneath the veneer. He was a kid from 2 whose brother was another ruined Victor, and whose mom was going back in to die. She was a capable lady, from what Bucky could tell - but she was an old woman up against killers. Loki knew she wasn't coming out again.
That's why Bucky was here, because Loki was losing too. Maybe that was enough to make him sympathetic. "Nobody can save him," Bucky said. It hurt to say still, but it was a settled ache, the kind he expected, could handle for now because he knew the shape and sharpness of it. He stepped in closer, shutting the door to the greenhouse behind him. Bucky was careful of the flowers, sidestepping them so he didn't even brush up against petals or leaves. He felt ... big and out of place - destructive in a place for things that were delicate and thriving. Bucky might not have guessed Loki would have a place like this, but he still knew he didn't exactly belong in it either. "I was drunk when I asked, but not dumb enough to still think that."
He watched Loki work. It had been an abrupt sort of question. Bucky'd heard Loki talk to people a lot. He hadn't spoken to Bucky that much, and Bucky had been hostile toward him anyway, even if he'd tried not to show it. That kind of question - direct and unshaded by thought or nuance - it wasn't how Loki talked. It was more like their lone in-person interaction, when Bucky had almost attacked him, and Loki had been afraid of him.
Drunk Loki got more direct too, Bucky guessed. "They gonna let you say anything to Frigga at all?" Bucky asked quietly, instead of really answering.