This day has been full of surprises. Bucky being here at all has been a big one. Bucky's apparent anger at Steve not going back to Peg has been... even bigger.

Not that he expected Bucky to fall over himself with gratitude that Steve is such an unselfish hero that he wants to stay with Bucky. That's not how it is, for a start. Steve's a person, full of flaws same as everyone else, and his eventual realization that going back was wrong... well, that had a lot of factors involved, and a lot of people involved. Being a condescending butt to Bucky isn't one of those factors.

Even if he had thrown himself at Bucky's feet babbling apologies, he wouldn't've expected Bucky to graciously forgive him anyway.

But he seems angry because Steve didn't go.

Steve takes half a step back, eyebrows drawing down over his nose. "The tech malfunctioned, or it was the user, or something. I spent time in Australia, London, couple others. Came to my senses eventually."

He doesn't want to make it seem like he's trying to force any kind of rote forgiveness from Bucky, but his innate sense of fairness compels him to add: "There's a lot I need to apologize for, and if I spell it all out it'll take a year or two. For now, I'll just say I'm sorry, Bucky."