Chapter 4 - Bruce

It's the middle of the night, 12:11am to be exact and Sam is finally getting into bed after an exhausting day of paperwork for the last mission he went on. He was finally settling down, his thick doona over his toned body and his head nestled on his pillow – it was memory foam, the fancy stuff. He sighed in content and shut his eyes, slowly drifting to sleep; when suddenly a loud knock pierced his ears.

Sam's eyes widened, fully awake and alert. He groaned in annoyance as he squinted his eyes.

'Maybe they will go away if I ignore them,' the soldier thought as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

A pregnant paused passed and Sam sighed in relief until he heard another knock.

"Oh, come on!" the man whined while he tossed his sheets off him to get up.

"Who in the hell is coming at this hour?" Sam muttered as he walked to his front door. He flipped the porch light on and peaked through his window, seeing Banner standing outside dishevelled, with torn clothes on, looking very miserable.

The soldier sighed again and opened the door, staring at the scientist.

Bruce perked up when he heard the door open and gave the other man an awkward smile as he rubbed his hands together. "Um, hey," he stammered, "I'm sorry for coming unannounced and so late. I'm sure you were already sleeping-"

"What do you want, Banner," the darker man spoke, cutting off the other man's rambling.

"Right, um, sorry," the smaller man coughed awkwardly, averting his eyes. "Look, I kind of Hulked out and I really don't want to go back to the Tower or home," Bruce explained. He looked up at the newest Avenger meekishly and rubbed his arms. "I don't feel okay. I don't want to be alone, but everyone else is just- they're just too much," he finished with a shaky breath.

Sam let out a sigh, sympathising with the man. He can see the hopelessness and desperation in Bruce's eyes and in his better judgement, he stepped aside, widening the door, to tell the dishevelled man in.

"Thanks, Sam. I really appreciate it," the older one spoke as he shuffled into the other's home.

"Don't mention it," the soldier said as he closed the door, "shower's around back to the left, if you want to wash up. I'll get you some clean clothes."

"Again, thank you. Steve was right. You're a real good friend," the scientist smiled and walked to the bathroom.

Sam let out a low growl as his eye twitched when Bruce said that god forsaken name.

Of course it's Steve.