"Might hold you down for your own damn good," he challenges flatly, because it's easier than saying no. Of course he wouldn't, no matter how much easier it might make his life. Giving into Alex's wishes, doing his penance, falling in line. It'd save him the fear of a future shanking in the showers, and yet here he is.

Another moment passes, and Bucky's leg slides down from it's elevated position to something flat. He hesitates on his question, but ultimately after sharing his own personal demons he thinks he's maybe earned the right to ask, "Why are you here, Steve?"

He doesn't mean SHU. He means prison. Steve seems like a good person, a god damn boy scout. A moral and honest man with good intentions and good humor. How does a man like that wind up in jail?