Food for Thought
Darcy sent me down with some lunch for Bruce who has been putting in some long hours in his lab. I managed to talk him in to a game of chess while he ate as a means of distracting him from the complex formulas he was working on. I couldn’t make heads of what was written on the whiteboard, but figured whatever it was could wait an hour or two.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about the Hulk lately,” I said in the middle of our game.
“Of what? Giving him a rematch in arm wrestling,” Bruce scoffed then took a bite of his sub sandwich.
“That…and about the relationship between the two of you.”
“We don’t have a relationship,” Bruce argued shaking his head, “At least not a good one. I’ve spent most of my time since the accident trying to get rid of him. You heard from Nat what I tried to do, right?”
“I did,” I answered simply, moving a pawn on the board and letting the topic drop. We played for a few more minutes, me down to my king, a couple pawns and a knight while Bruce had all his pawns but only a bishop and rook guarding his king.
“What about our relationship?” Bruce asked curiously, making me smile at him over the board as he finished off his food, wiping his mouth with a napkin to hide his blushing face.
“The Hulk has always, in my opinion, been misunderstood. He is not a monster who just goes around smashing for the fun of it. If anything he smashes only when he feels threatened, using his size and angry growls to scare people away from him so they don’t get hurt.”
Bruce nodded, seeming to agree with my train of thought as I went on. “Sure when he first comes out he’s disoriented and lashes out at anyone around him. But that could be said about anyone waking up from what must feel like a drugged state after the change. I’m guessing. Anyway, he only smashes when threatened or smashes that which he determines to be a threat.”
“Like Natasha on the Helicarrier?”
“I’m letting that slide,” I told him, slowly slipping my knight through his defenses, “Loki’s scepter messed with everyone’s heads including his. Which is an extension of yours after all.”
“I’m beginning to see where you’re going with this,” Bruce breathed, referring to my train of thought, not strategy.
“The Hulk is a part of you, a separate entity hat retains some of your own memories. How else do you explain him jumping up and catching Tony when he was falling? Like it or not there is a connection between the two of you. A bond if you will.” Bruce rolled his eyes, but laughed and smiled at me channeling Darcy.
“I just think if you use some of those meditations you learned to try and commune with the big guy, the two of you might finally reach an understanding. You could develop a partnership in a way or at the very least make a deal of some kind regarding shared custody of your body.”
“I’ll think about it,” Bruce said, letting me know that now the topic was seriously dropped.
“That’s all I ask. In the meantime,” I made my move and put my knight in position, his king trapped with know where to go because of his other pieces. “Checkmate.”
Bruce went wide eyed, looking over the board before turning a narrowed eyed glare up at me. I didn’t distract him by talking about the Hulk and he knew it. I was just using our game as a reference point.
“Keeping your king walled up isn’t always the best strategy,” I told him standing up to leave, but not before placing a kiss to the back of his head.