“Didn’t say it was a bad thing,” he grouses quietly to himself about the fake thing he made up. He takes the compliment that follows for what it is though, a rare acknowledgement that he maybe isn’t as much of a wastrel as he sometimes feels.

Nothing could change the reality though. As much as anyone could have searched, he knows it wasn’t as simple as just finding Steve either. The fact Captain America still lived was a surprise for everyone. No one should have survived, and the logical conclusion would have been to assume he had died. It’s the one Bucky had also reached when they kept bringing him the papers in his cell, rubbing it in that no one was coming for him, that no one remembered James Buchanan Barnes. But that doesn’t matter anymore, at least not in the grand scheme of things.

Rather than linger on the obvious subject that would draw them to discomfort, he smiles easily at her latter remark while giving a slight shrug. “You can thank my ma for that. She was a killer cook too. Dunno if I’ll qualify as on par, but I do try my damn best anyway. Steve used to swear by my pancakes. But I’m sure he was probably just putting me on too. Pancakes aren't all that hard to make.”