Bruce's head was ducked. He was sat on the double bed with his glasses fogged up from unwanted tears. His fingers trailed on the blanket underneath him as he tried to stop his tears forming again. He'd managed to stay strong for so long but it was too much. He'd done it again.
He heard the door click open on their shared room and instantly knew Steve had come to find him. He was the only person on this whole ship who would open a door so gently.
"Bruce?" Steve edged closer, since he'd never seen his partner react so strongly to an unsolicited transformation. "What's wrong?"
The Captain perched on the edge of the bed and held his hand to Bruce's forearm. His thumb drew gentle circles to sooth.
"It happened again." He peered up at his partner, "It's becoming more frequent like it used to be and there was so much damage this time..." He tried to keep in the tears.
Steve pulled himself fully on the bed so he was sat cross legged with both his hands cupping Bruce's large palms. He looked into his partner's bright and intelligent eyes only to see sorrow.
"Bruce, it's not your fault. You control it so well all of the time and the damage can be fixed. A ship can be fixed, you can't." Steve swallowed.
"But I thought it was getting better since..."
"Since?" He leant his head.
"Since we got together." Bruce admitted.
Cap leant forward and placed a kiss against his partner's forehead, "We've come this far together. We can keep going together, I promise. There is no going back so you're stuck with me."
Bruce smiled and Steve smiled back. They leant forward and met in a kiss.