He didn't expect it to hit him so hard. It isn't like it's the first time they've even said so. But it practically steals the air from his lungs as the words sink into him, and Bucky crumbles right with them into Steve with something of a strangled sob that makes him cling tighter to him- clawing, desperate, like Steve is a goddamn lifeline.

And right now, maybe he is.

He doesn't know how to tell him how this feels, he's just sure that it looks like a terrible reaction on the other side of it right now. But it isn't, it isn't negative at all, it's just more emotion than he knows how to process all at once.