Just because you're not mad at him doesn't mean he can't still pick up on the anger and be nervous or upset about it, Steve. He's a very observant murder machine, and you're an open book anyway.

There's a twitch, a flinch, at that goddamn name. He actually, physically bites his tongue for a second on the automatic "don't call me that", because... because. It isn't right for Steve to call him the Asset, either. (And now his tongue hurts. Appropriate, really, since that name always means pain, doesn't it?)

But the compromise name. That one was okay. That didn't make him think of punishment and fear. "Buck," he blurts after a tense pause. "Use that. That's. That's safer."