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“Hey, we’re good now, right?”
Bruce shook his head, fingers still shaking, “Why did you stay?” he asked angrily. Before Tony could defend himself, he pressed on. “I told you to leave, to get to a safe room. Why the hell did you stay?”
Tony held out his hands in a placating manner. “I didn’t think you were close to changing. JARVIS had a constant read on your heart rate and-”
“It’s not about my heart rate, Tony!” Bruce screamed. He forced himself to take a few deep breaths, sliding back down and leaning against a set of cabinets in the lab. “It’s not about my heart rate.” He looked up. “It’s about how he perceives its change. And when I’m having a panic attack that you, albeit inadvertently," he allowed, "caused, he’s not going to be happy with you. It’s hard enough to keep him down during these- these freak outs- ”
“Bruce!” Tony tried to protest, tried to remind him that he had panic disorder and that gave him at least a little bit of wiggle room, but he was steamrolled.
“And with the trigger right there in front of his goddamned eyes, it gets nearly impossible!”
“Big Green didn’t come out, Bruce,” Tony reminded, just wanting to move past this. When Bruce fixated on his panic attacks, it became harder for him to function the rest of the day, stuck only thinking of his perceived mistakes.
The doctor shook his head, “That’s not what matters. What matters is that he was right there, pushing at the surface. My vision was fucking acid green!”
“No. No, your eyes never changed, your fingers and neck were all white as shit-”
“That doesn’t mean he was there! He was right there, goddammit!” Bruce jumped to his feet at started pacing. Tony watched him for a while, letting the silence wash over them. Finally, Bruce sat back down, breathing quietly. “God, why do I fuck everything up? My problems always seem to get in the way of everyone else’s lives.”
"We all have problems, Bruce,” Tony murmured, sitting down next to his friend. “Yours are just... larger than life sometimes."
"That's not funny, Tony," Bruce protested sullenly, resting his head against a cabinet.
“I know, big guy, I know.” He pulled his friend close, Bruce’s head resting on Tony’s shoulder.
“Sorry,” the former murmured, tears sliding down his face. The fear that he would hurt Tony still surged through him, but he forced himself to remember that they weren’t in the danger zone anymore. A sob broke out of his through without him realizing it. Tony shushed him, before leading his partner up to bed.