Who: Peggy & Bruce What: Lunch, and a Detox Where: The Capitol When: A few days after the Quell announcement, after Peggy returns to the Capitol. Rating: Low, probably.
The doctor trained his water glass for a second time. He rubbed his thumb over the fabric of the napkin which was still wrapped around his silverware. He was impatient, but she was not late. He was impatient, but he didn't want to look at his watch. If Peggy came in and he was looking at his watch, he'd seem rude. Around most people, he didn't care if he seemed rude or not. There were reasons, though, that he felt the need to not seem rude around her. He waved the waiter back over to his table, and just told him to leave the pitcher.
There was a dryness in the back of this throat that he couldn't get rid of. He felt like he was about to deteriorate into a fit of coughs, but he'd felt that way for days and it hadn't happened yet. He couldn't tell if it was something in the air, or just something on his mind. It could be both, all things considered. Everything had seemed a little tense since the Quarter Quell announcement.
The word Banner did on the side, creating specific pets or plants for citizens, was always put on hold once the Games started out and his primary responsibilities took over his life. The Quell announcement meant he was taking his last few orders and requests until after the games. In the waiting room even today, a number of his private citizen clients were practically keeling over with titillating excitement. While they sat in plush chairs and checked off boxes They spoke to each other in hushed voices as though they were discussion some secret. Like they were the only ones in the entire city that were making predictions about the games to come. Bruce counted the minutes until he was finished with all of them and could sneak off to the lunch he'd planned with an old friend.
He couldn't remember anymore, in which Games he'd first met Peggy, or if it had been some sort of celebratory party or casual dinner, but there was something about her manner that Bruce had really taken to. She was smart, dry-witted and about as interested in talking about everything besides the games as he was. It would be a pleasure to see her again, even if the circumstances were less than ideal.
He'd arrived early, unable to sit in his labs and stare at the patter requests for bird feathers any more. There was a time he took pride in his work, but he didn't like to think about that. Remembered what he used to do made the stark contrast between it and his work now even more difficult to stomach. Maybe that was why he was drinking so much water: maybe there was a bad taste he was trying to wash out of his mouth.