Steve followed gamely behind, wincing internally as his apology was ignored entirely and winced again at the ungentle way Bucky treated the delicate equipment they were in. No matter that Bucky was giving out strong keep-away vibes, he took a seat next to Bucky on the quinjet anyway. It's been a week since he's last seen his friend and he wants to stay as close as possible. (He had not so much fear that Bucky wouldn't survive the explosion but that his oldest friend would have taken the chance to disappear from his life again.) He'd started brooding over that possibility as the quinjet took off on autopilot when he found himself being swept up in a tight hug.

Oh.

He'd misread his friend completely. Not mad then, not really. Steve returned the hug just as hard as it was given, wrapping his arms tightly around Bucky's body. "I'm not that easy to kill. Not by a long shot." He let out a shuddering laugh and buried his face against Bucky's shoulder, breathing in the scent of leather and gunpowder. "It'll take much more than that to get rid of me."