Bucky barely even looks hungover when he drops himself heavily down on Steve's thin creaky mattress, a few hours before the sun rises. He claps a hand warmly on his friend's boney shoulder and gives him a vigorous shake.

"Rise and shine, Steve-o. C'mon you jerk! Ain't gonna get up and see me off after you disappeared on me last night? Some friend!" He's grinning, the teasing asshole. Steve groans into his elbow.

" 'Course I am!" Steve grumps indignantly, dragging one knobby hand over his eyes and massaging at the ache behind them. "Give a guy a second, can't ya?"
He sits up stiffly and yawns, feeling every muscle and joint creak mutinously when he moves. Apparently he'd stayed wadded up into a little ball even after he fell asleep. Lovely.

Bucky's already back in his uniform, Steve realizes with a little jolt. Looking as freshly pressed and put together as he ever does. It makes something in the pit of Steve's stomach turn to lead. He'd almost forgotten, in a haze of sleep, just where his best friend was going today.

"Hurry up and get dressed already, Rogers. I gotta report in a couple'a hours and since somebody ran off last night an' left me with two girls to entertain, I figured we could celebrate a little this morning instead. Do the whole big send-off crap, y'know?"

"Yeah… that … that sounds great, Buck. I'll make some pancakes. I think we got eggs left."

"You go promisin' a guy pancakes, we sure as hell better!"

Bucky brews some coffee, strong and black and bitter as the pits of hell - the way they always drink it- while Steve slowly mixes up the batter and starts a pan heating on the stove.

He thinks with a mixture of relief and misery, that they'll spend the last of their time carefully dancing around each other, speaking without speaking, until Bucky turns to him, chipped mug cupped between his fingers, and asks the question Steve's been dreading.

"So how'd it go?"

"How'd what go?" Steve busies himself ladling out a little puddle of batter and watching it hiss and bubble on contact with the dented steel.

"Your big visit with Uncle Sam, dummy, what else? You obviously didn't get arrested… or else you're just doin' a shitty job of being on lam."

"I'm not on the lam, Bucky." Steve replies mildly, carefully flipping the pancake. He can't keep staring into the pan or Bucky's going to know something's wrong, so he makes himself turn around, looking indignant.
"I came straight back here and went to bed. How do you think it went?" It's not technically a lie, but he feels like a rat for it anyway. He turns back to the pancake before it can burn and scrapes it out and onto a plate without turning around.

"Shit… Look, I'm sorry kid…" There's a short pause. The air feels suddenly heavy between them. "I mean, I ain't sorry you'll be here in one piece when I get back…" Bucky sounds so much less sure of himself than he did the day before, that Steve can't help but turn around and face him. Haloed in the harsh yellow light of the single bulb in the ceiling, his friend looks truly tired for the first time. Not a-day-of-hard-work tired, but down to the bone, to the soul weariness… Steve tells himself it's just the light that's doing it.
"I know you wanted to go too." Bucky says quietly, staring down into his coffee before visibly shaking himself and taking a sip. "Just… Just be careful while I'm gone, ok Steve?" He raises his eyes and locks onto Steve's in a piercing, serious way that he's never really had before. "Stay safe. That's all I'm askin' ya…" The tired look is more pronounced with the way Bucky's head is tilted toward him, something unreadable in his expression. It's gone again when he moves.
Just a trick of light.

"I'll… I'll try."
Steve turns back to the pancakes, one already going stone cold, forgotten, on the plate beside him. They both know Steve couldn't be careful if someone was holding his hands and showing him how, but he wants to give Bucky something, some comfort to hold onto. This is a lie he can tell. "And you'll be back before you know it. Like you were never gone." He adds.

"Sure as fuck hope so." Bucky mutters, half teasing, half serious. "Now gimme that hot-cake before it freezes solid, I'm starvin'."