Even before he became the Soldier, Bucky Barnes was always good at waiting. People always used to think that it would be him who was the impatient one of the two, just like they thought it would be him who got them into trouble; nobody ever suspected the frail and angelic looking Steve Rogers. Idiots. When he was a little kid he used to wait for hours to try and catch a fish down at the river, or sling a stone at a bird for the pot. It's what had made him a good boxer, and then a good sniper, his ability to wait.

That skill had only been honed by HYDRA.

But strangely, even with all of that experience behind him, he found sitting and waiting in Steve's room to be difficult. Minutes dragged like whole weeks, and every moment of silence made him more unsure that he had made the right choice. And then-- god, then he was there. The sight of him hit Bucky like a punch to the gut, but his expression never changed.

"You need to shut the door," the first words he's said to Steve in over a year, the first words to anyone in a long time, his voice a low rasp. "Or people will see."