[It might be all the easier like that to feel how his shoulders tense just briefly, almost an involuntary reaction more than anything. It's not that he particularly wants to repeat the situation, but at the same time -- there's always that feeling he's never learned to bite down of wanting and being unable to do anything. Even more so now that none of the things that would ordinarily match him up slightly would work in this scenario...
Still, he nods a little, his gaze lowered all the same. Not quite yet pulling back but maybe starting to straighten himself up.]
I know. [It's more like an "I'll try" but it's something, for Bucky's sake, much of the argument out the window for now.] Just...
[What comes out isn't a "let me fight too if it comes to worst" or "I can't promise you anything" again, but rather--]