Steve hates how his whole body tenses at that question. He should have expected it, after all. And the truth can only be held back so long before Steve's silence on it becomes lying by omission. Besides, he's here. He's here and he's real and there's no telling when they will cross paths. It's not like Steve can even message him to warn him to stay away. He's not even sure if his Bucky would open a message from him.

It's that thought that has him leaning into this Bucky's hands, eyes shutting against this warm, familiar feeling. He has his friend. His friend is here and is talking to him. He can deal with everything else so much better just by not feeling so alone.

"Yeah. He's here."

Steve doesn't know where to start with the mess of what happened to the other James Buchanan. He bites the inside of his cheek, wishing there was a way to make this less awful. But there's just...not.

"Look. Just. Remember that this is my timeline. What I'm saying doesn't.... necessarily mean that it happened to your Steve." But he's sure that he wasted his breath saying that. Bucky's mind will go there. Of course it would.

"He just. Doesn't...really remember me. My Bucky." God, that hurts to say even now. "When he fell off the train, some HYDRA people found him. They messed with his mind and used him for missions. He's free of them, now. But... Yeah. Right now he still doesn't remember much about me." He laughs, humorlessly, trying to defuse the tension but being too affected to do it properly.

"Actually. If you wanna know who wins in a fight between you and me... I got stories, pal."