Well, shit. That was obviously the wrong thing to say. "Sorry," Steve apologizes, "Sorry, no. You're right. I mean - that you're not him. I shouldn't have put it that way." It's why he'd tried to stop speaking in the first place, for all the good that had obviously done.

But, "Not that a cat probably wouldn't be safe with you. I think it would. I mean, you've gone a whole five minutes without punching me in the nose, so - that's like going five years without hurting a cat."

It's a terrible joke, possibly made more terrible by the fact that Steve can see the way Bucky's tensed, even turned away as he is. "I'm sorry," he says again, running a hand through his hair. "I really don't think a cat would be unsafe with you. But the point is that you feel safe."