Bucky goes abnormally still when Steve cups his neck, but he doesn't pull away. If there's anyone in this world that he trusts not to actually be trying to restrain or hurt him, then it's Steve Rogers. He feels the strength in those long fingers that not many people would believe, and how cold they are from poor circulation.

It's familiar, just as familiar as Steve being a goddamn mind reader and saying all the right things. Making Bucky feel dumb and relieved at the same time.

"Yeah, I know, it's just-- it sucks."

Steve is the only person he was ever regularly honest with about his feelings before shipping out, seems like that might be still true. He looks genuinely frustrated along with the hurt.

"I got myself through that crap by thinking about getting back. I was gonna go to school like I always wanted, and you and me were gonna live together, and everything was gonna go back to how it should be. And it's not fair that it hasn't happened. I don't want the girls to see me this way, grocery shopping makes me sweat like a kid on a first date, even you can see I'm too messed up to have a roommate, and I can't go to school because-- because a bunch of reasons."

He pulls back and grabs a pizza box just to have something to focus on, slamming the lid open so viciously that a slice drops out onto the floor, something Penny is quick to clean up for them.

"Sorry. It's so dumb to be angry, it's not like being mad is gonna change anything."