Gray.

It had been early days on the project when Bruce had met the General’s daughter. She had just walked in one day, books in hand, ready to learn, glasses sliding down her face. Bruce hadn’t said much to her, but he had noticed her.

She was beautiful, after all. For all his loneliness, he wasn’t blind.

But he knew she wouldn’t have time for a guy like him - there would always be some obstacle in his love life. 

Apparently, most girls didn’t like it when you talked about high frequency energy rays, or the process of a collapsing neutron star. Most girls didn’t like-

“That’s incorrect.”

Bruce looked up from the chalkboard, and blinked. He turned - she was standing next to him, and he had hardly noticed, too engrossed in the mathematics of the thing. She, however, was looking up at one of the equations on the board, one of his equations.

He stepped to where she was standing - he was taller than her, so he was able to stand behind her, follow her gaze to his numerical error. 

He considered it for a moment. She was right.

“... Huh.”

She wandered over to another part of the board, out from under his looming shadow.

“Hm,” she said, contemplating a blueprint chalk drawing. “You know, if you place that particular kind of shielding on the chassis -” she started.

“The rays will be increased, I know,” he said, nodding. “That’s the point.”

She shook her head. “No, they won’t. Gamma rays don’t refract that way - they won’t be increased, they’ll just-”

“Be hindered,” Bruce finished. He blinked at his mistake - such a simple miscalculation. Not just that, two such miscalculations. He must be getting tired.

He turned to the girl, no older than nineteen herself. She was still observing his board, no doubt looking for more mistakes.

“... What’s your name?” he asked. 

“Betty,” she said. “Betty Ross.”

Bruce looked bored. Of course. The General’s daughter.

“And when did you become an expert in nuclear physics?” he said, raising an eyebrow.

“Last night,” she said, indicating the books she was hugging to her chest, still not looking away from the board.

“...Hmph,” Bruce said, frowning. She turned to him, eyes open, and then cracked a smile.

“I’m kidding,” she said. She freed a hand, and pushed up her glasses. “You do know about jokes, right? I know spending time with my dad all day, it makes you forget they exist.”

Bruce considered her for a moment. Then he smiled too. 

“Heh, yeah. He’s not the laughing type, is he?”

Betty smiled wider, and rolled her eyes. “Oh my god, are you kidding? I know he’s a military guy but jeez, what I wouldn’t kill for a normal dad joke once in a while.”

Bruce thought for a moment, and chewed his lip.

“You know, someone actually quit last week, over his sense of humour?” he said, barely containing a smirk.

“Oh yeah?” Betty asked, genuinely curious.

“Mhm,” Bruce nodded. “They left a note on the break room fridge. It said ‘It’s not working, I can’t stay here anymore.’”

Betty frowned. “That’s a bit unorthodox.”

Bruce nodded, his smile growing wider. “I know. When Ross opened it, he said ‘I don’t understand. The fridge works just fine.’”

Betty’s expression grew, and she started giggling. Even Bruce chuckled at his own awful joke, a low sound he wasn’t used to. 

For the first time in his life, he felt like he could breathe. 

Betty came in more regularly after that, mostly to check Bruce’s math. That was the excuse she gave, anyway, but as the days went by, they spent more time together - first sharing lunch breaks, then going for walks after hours. They even spent a few nights together, though nothing untoward ever happened. They just enjoyed each other’s company.

Documentarians would say that the reason Bruce Banner became less angry after the Gamma Bomb incident was because his anger had been redirected elsewhere. This wasn’t entirely correct - it was because he had met someone who made him realise he didn’t have as much to be angry about. 

In the weeks before the bomb, he had mellowed. 

As the General would put it, it was all ‘bum progress,’ undone in a moment’s notice, but he was wrong. If Betty Ross hadn’t arrived in Bruce’s life before the bomb went off, the results of the incident would’ve been far, far worse.