Bucky looks around him, at these friends of Steve, these people who stepped up with Steve to protect him and were willing to put their own lives in danger to keep him from being taken into custody by Stark and his people, or worse, Ross and his.

They may be in Wakanda now, the fight over and even the King having changed his mind about whether Bucky should be in custody, but Bucky still feels like a fish out of water, not knowing his place, not knowing how to express how truly grateful he is for this chance they’ve given him, even as he knows what he’s going to ask of the King.

He’ll put it to him when Steve isn’t there, hoping that he’ll understand so that when he has to tell Steve someone will have his back because Steve is going to hate this idea, even when Bucky is sure it’s the only way to be safe, sure. He knows the lengths Steve’s friends will go to in order to keep him safe, but now he’s seen what the Wakandans can do, he has to believe they’ll find an answer, a solution to keep everyone safe and until then he can do this for these people. Bucky can trust and wait in a frozen sleep.