Asking Steve to forget about Bucky even for a second was like asking the world to stop turning. It wasn’t going to happen until there was nothing left.
“Yeah,” he said softly, leaning slightly into his friend’s hand. The hours they had left were few and every one was harder knowing that was it. That was going to be the end of a century of friendship, erased from the world with a snap of the fingers. After everything they’d been through, it felt like the kind of end they were always going to have. Even if it was never going to be his fault, even knowing leaving Bucky in peace wouldn’t have saved him this time, Steve wished he could have let him live out the end as a civilian. “We had a good run. Better here,” he added, the smallest of smiles quirking on his lips.
They’d had a good life in their time here, and despite everything, the shift in their relationship wasn’t something Steve would trade for any amount of extra time together.