Things never seemed to go right. It was Saturday. It was supposed to be a harmless and fun day filled with board games and Pretty Little Liars (courtesy of Clint). Peter was supposed to come to the compound, and it was to be his first meeting with Bruce since the reunion of the Avengers after the Infinity War. This Saturday wasn’t supposed to be spent with the Hulk in downtown Manhattan, a Code Green gone wrong. Thor and Natasha had helped to placate the green beast, but by the time Bruce had regained his human form, the damage had been done. No fatalities, but there were several injuries that were caused by falling debris from a hulk-razed building. But Wanda was hurt, and while no one blamed him, Bruce knew, of course, he always knew.
Upon returning to the compound, Bruce had locked himself in his personal lab, and no one except Tony could go in (Tony built the entire building. There wasn’t anywhere he wasn’t allowed. Well. Except Nat’s room of course). Everybody knew to give him some space. Hulk might have been the most ruthless and powerful being around, but Bruce was the gentlest soul (barring perhaps Peter) that one could find on this planet.
It took a week of Tony’s coaxing and carrying trays of food to the lab for him to emerge and join the others for breakfast. But when a mission arose again, he refused to get on the plane.
“C’mon man,” Tony urged. “We might need you!”
“It’s not worth the risk Tones,” Bruce shook his head vehemently. “You’ve got the frickin’ God of Thunder on your side. You’ll be okay.”
Debating over this was taking too much time, and Cap was urging them to take off already, so Tony just looked on forlornly while Bruce waved from the landing bay. As he watched the fight from the news and several other sources, his heart knew that he’d made the right decision when he heard a reporter say “…team is in full attendance, although there have been no sightings of the Hulk, who, a week ago, leveled a building that was in its initial stages of construction. 23 people were injured in the fray, including Wanda Maximov, the Scarlet Witch. One must ask whether the Hulk has proven to be more help or harm?”
He didn’t need to listen to anymore. He had the answers he needed. The Hulk was an obvious detriment to the team, and hurting Wanda was completely inexcusable. He could help the team tremendously as Bruce Banner, but the Hulk was just a time bomb waiting to detonate. No one knew Bruce Banner, so it was a perfect way to lay low.
A month went by and Bruce still refused to return to the battlefield. He kept his head buried in research, helping Tony out whenever he could, but mostly he kept to himself. Wonderful results came from his diligence, such as the advancements in the Arc Reactor technology and the replacement of nuclear reactors in submarines, but the toll it took on him was apparent to everyone.
The bags under his eyes were getting thicker and his cheekbones were getting sharper and sharper. His hair was getting longer and more unkempt, and he never bothered to get a haircut. He still came for team-bonding nights, but everyone could tell that the light in his eyes had dimmed bit by bit. The light that had taken so long for the team to bring out; the light that had been absent when Natasha first went to recruit him; the light that had warmed even the heart of Nick fuckin’ Fury.
Everyone tried to bring the light back. Nat tried hanging out with him in his lab, even if he wouldn’t talk much, but she could tell that his demeanor was no longer welcoming, and instead, was that of a wounded animal in a corner, so she eventually left him to heal. Wanda made some Chicken Paprikash for Bruce, to show that she had long forgiven him. That almost worked, but whenever he saw the scar on her arm, he was instantly reminded of the reason he could never return to the field. He was reminded of his rampage in South Africa, how he’d hurt his teammates, and why the world was right to fear him.
But Tony knew exactly what would help the Gamma Ray Scientist. He knew what it was like to be in a place of self-deprecation and self-loathing, where you held the blame for things that were not rightly your fault. He remembered when the world held him responsible for the Civil War and he remembered exactly what pulled him out of the darkness.
“YO BRUCE!!”
“Oh hey Tony,” Bruce turned around, ready to accept the packed lunch that Tony usually brought for him when he had worked too late. “What’d you get-”
“OH MY GOD IS THAT DOCTOR BANNER??”
There in front of him, stood Peter Parker, Tony Stark’s protege, and the world-renowned sweetest boy on earth. Behind him was Tony, beaming proudly. The boy ran forward and pulled him into a handshake.
“OH MY GOD I FINALLY GET TO SEE YOU I WAS SO EXCITED BUT THERE WAS THAT THING WITH THE OCTOPUS AND THEN I HAD SCHOOL BUT OMG MY BEST FRIEND NED REALLY WANTED TO MEET YOU BECAUSE WE’RE SUCH BIG FANS OF YOUR WORK ON BIOCHEMISTRY AND GAMMA RADIATION AND HOW YOU IMPROVED THE ARC REACTOR AND oh my god Dr. Banner are you crying?”
Tears were sliding down the thin cheeks of the tired scientist, and the light slowly started to shine in his eyes, as if the tears themselves had hidden it. His lips unconsciously pulled back into a smile as his throat tightened and his eyes stung.
“No,” he choked out, clasping his other hand around the handshake. “I’m just not used to fans.”