Summary: Bruce wakes up to find his room in a state he'd never thought to see.

His usual phone alarm woke him up in the wee hours of the morning. There was a cold breeze that drifted in through the windows as Bruce sat up, rubbing the last sleep from his eyes. He frowned when he glanced to the side and saw an empty bedside.

"Steve?" he mumbled, looking around the room to find no sign or movement. Bruce had slept through his heartburn from last night after overworking himself down at the labs and was talked into having an order or two of shawarma that Tony had had delivered for them to make up for dinner. Rubbing his chest mindlessly, he was about to get to his feet before spotting a letter on his bedside table as he reached to switch the alarm off on his phone.

Promptly after disarming the device, he unfolded the letter and read it. Bruce was halfway to his feet before he slowly sat back down as he reached the end of that letter. Heaving a heavy sigh, he lowered it and brought a hand to his head, rubbing his temples with his thumb and middle finger. "This early in the morning Steve?" he said with another collective sigh.

He glanced at the clock for a while and begrudgingly went to get dressed. As expected, the closet was half-empty and he vaguely wondered why that was even a necessity. But when Steve made his mind about something, Bruce thought it better not to argue. Soul-searching or not, Captain America was just that kind of character.

As Bruce was attempting to tame his hair, he thought back to their whole relationship thus far. Yes, he admitted that it had been smooth sailing with little to no major arguments... unless you counted that incident last Friday when Bruce had urged Steve to come to their off-site facility when the man was clearly sick. If he compared that to Steve's request last night it never stood a chance. But then Bruce lingered on the notion of where all attention was focusing between the two of them.

Granted, Bruce agreed that a lot of the time, Steve was the focal point, but for good reason. Bruce worked a near-regular job with Tony at decent work hours from 8:30-5:30 at their off-site labs, sometimes extending due to needed re-calculations or calibrations and possible dinner invites from the cocky philanthropist. It left him stressful and tired by the end of each weekday, but he got paid bi-monthly for his contributions. The doctor, in essence, was the breadwinner amongst the two. It quickly became an obligation for Bruce to make sure Steve was cared for, especially realizing that the man out of time was emotionally in complete contrast to his tough exterior as Captain America.

Bruce knew about Steve's story; he didn't want him to feel abused or rejected, just as he was many times prior to the exposure to the Super Serum. So Bruce took extra care to shower Steve with all the necessary treats he could afford - dining at Steve's favorite restaurants, clocking off work at the exactly 5:30 every Friday to kick-start quality time with him, and spending in general for the man who stole Bruce's heart.

Decided, the doctor took a moment to pull out his BannerPhone and type up a message to send to Steve to read when he had the chance.

Steve,

I read your letter. And I just want to let you know a few things:

1. Ill never get tired of doing things for you, so I hope you don't consider this as anything other than my way of showering affection for you. Kinda like Christian Grey in that trilogy novel you burned after reading it.

2. You don't have to apologize for anything. No one needs to adapt to anything they're not comfortable with. Besides, you'd have given change that opportunity a long time ago when we were starting out.

3. If I came off as annoyed or accusatory of you being inconsiderate of my well-being then I have to apologize. As you said, I was just stressed and the last thing I wanted to happen was to snap at you for being inconsiderate. Granted, I had deprived you of a decent conversation for that allotted time after work which I had promised you I'd do. So for that, I apologize.

4. I just LOVE you. NEVER forget that. Amidst everything, I don't think I can stress that point any more than I can keep the other guy in check. And I'm sure the other guy will agree that you're someone who we can't afford to let go, so sometimes we end up doing and saying things that will get you to overthink and overanalyze things when it really isn't necessary. We just end up saying and doing those things to get you to stay for fear that you'd leave.

I'll respect your decision of needing some space, but please don't take too long. I'll miss you too much. When I come back from work tonight, I hope to see you've moved your clothes back and are waiting for me on the bed just like you always do.

Yours forever,

Bruce

After rereading it, he pressed the Send button.