[ The smile on his face goes away as soon as what is being said registers. On some level he thought maybe it was comforting, to have some sort of process repeated, to be conditioned to want it; it made sense that the child version of Bucky would seek that.

Hearing it out loud is fucking terrifying, though. Steve spreads one big hand over the small curve of Bucky's back and tries not to sound gut-punched like how he feels. ]

No, Buck, you won't go back to the freezer. We can keep the room a little cooler. We're gonna find a way to fix you back to being grown up, I promise.