Betty Ross (MCU) (elizabethross) wrote in misassembled, @ 2011-05-13 14:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | old log |
Shopping was not something Bruce Banner was exactly used to anymore.
Barter, begging, scavenging, creating, sure. If he needed something, he was clever enough to work it out without any normal avenues. He was untracable and effective in the worst of situations which is why Stark's Malibu estate was incomprehensible to him. All that wealth and luxury, options handed to him on silver platters, he nearly couldn't work that way anymore. His days of having a military budget were over and he was quite grateful for that. Stark's opulence was a little too close to home.
So when supplies were needed, he struck out on his own rather than give Stark a laundry list. When the billionaire brought up if he'd come back, Bruce didn't have an answer for him. Watching Betty as they sorted out their choices for an emulsifier, he really wanted to have one. She deserved at least that much.
This is how she can catch him just watching her as they talk viscosity.
Betty takes any and all outings very seriously since making Bruce's life her own (again). She has taken to the life of a fugitive easily, if not with relish. The first time, it took her. What meant to be a short walk with Bruce turned into her leaving Leonard and risking her life, seeing frightening things and losing Bruce again. This time was also unexpected but she made the choice. Betty could have went back, but she didn't.
And none of this has really crossed her mind. The only choice was to stay with Bruce. Right now, her mind is only on the subject at hand. She turns to look at him, ".. I suppose... what do you-- what do you think?" What is he thinking?
Bruce blinks and comes back to now. He looks down at bottle she showed him. "I think it'll work fine," he says in a rather intimate little whisper, a tone meant for something else. Looking up amongst the shelves in a casual, shoplifting fashion, he takes the bottle and palms it.
"You don't have to be here." Yes, those are the words he wanted to say.
Betty lifts her chin and narrows her eyes. "Well, I am. So you'll just have to deal with it." He's become good at adapting, why can't he just let this happen?
How could he say no to her? How could anyone say no to those eyes, resolute in following him. Like she would kick his head in for even bringing it up. She's seen him at his worst and yet, here she is, talking shop and taking her chance as if nothing were on the line, as if none of it mattered at all. Despite himself, he smiled a little at her. Sure, it's a smile of surrender, but it happened naturally and that hadn't happened in a long time.
Tentatively, he reaches out to take her hand and that's when the freight train comes. Startling in its power, explosive in its force, the wall behind Betty explodes in brick and boards and supplies and fire like it was shelled in a time of war. It all happens so quickly, Bruce can only watch numbly over Betty's shoulder, as not a freight train, but the Hulk bursts forth in a raging howl right at them, his great green eyes fixing right on him as he rushed towards them-
-waking him up in the middle of the night with a strangled little cry. His eyes felt pulled open, his chest heaving in great heaving breaths that leave his ribs bare against his skin. Distantly, he heard beeping from his arm, his pulse was far too high.
Which in turn, startles Betty. "What, what-- oh no!" She had found it funny, only a few hours before, that Bruce fell asleep before her. She hadn't fallen asleep on her own accord it seems: laptop partially open on her stomach, sitting somewhat upright, television gone onto a infomercial. She's been worried since they've gone on the lam (on the lam!) that Tony has sicced the government on them. Or even worse, worried that maybe Tony would be better at helping Bruce with a cure than herself.
She also didn't really like hiding in plain sight. Sure, she'd hopefully thrown Tony off the trail by saying they went to Brazil. They were in Nevada instead. Right outside Vegas, living in a tiny trailer. All the people coming and going into Las Vegas, long stretches of desert. It seemed like a good idea to Betty at first. Now it's starting to make her a little nervous. She doesn't let on to Bruce. He's got a enough on his plate, she has to be the strong one.
Getting startled for a moment is fine. She makes things right quickly, "Shh, it's all right."
Bruce gets a hold on himself quickly as his mind stretches like saltwater taffy. He jumps from the bed as if electrocuted, winding up on the floor on his knees. He sucks in breath through his teeth, catching up with his lungs and slowing them down, fists clenched at the edge of the bed, his suddenly sweaty forehead resting on top of them.
Betty waits. She moves to sit up in her knees, laptop gently placed on the nightstand. She just waits, because there's not much else she can do. Story of her life, isn't it?
"I'm sorry, god I'm sorry," Bruce whispers.
Betty takes a few awkward movements forward, crawls over, still up on her knees. She puts a hand out to touch Bruce's shoulder. "It's all right. I'm here. We're safe."
The beeping is over. He reaches up with a shaky hand and takes Betty's, looking up at her with a guilty face. "I'm... I'm so bad at this." Like he can't score points in SkiBall, like he can't swing a bat at a slow pitch.
"Well, I'm pretty good at it. We'll meet in the middle." She squeezes his hand and then goes to climb up off the bed. "Do you want some water?"
Bruce shakes his head, moving to lean against the bed frame from the floor. He reaches out for her, fingers against her leg. "No, no... just..."
Betty stops moving. "What?" Anything!
He sounds tired. "Are we doing the right thing?"
"Define that, please." What exactly would be the right thing? There are so many ways you could answer that.
He lets out a small moment of tension in a laugh that's more of an exhale, allowing him a large breath before he continues. His fingers still rest on the back of her calf. "Define.... Betty, this isn't what I wanted for you- for us." It seems like years ago when they worked together, when he first met the General's daughter, when he used to be sure of things.
She's quick to answer. "Doesn't matter. Right and wrong have changed." The tone in Betty's voice is daring him to say something to contradict her.
"No," he sounds surprised. "No, right and wrong haven't- I'm trying to contain this. To get a handle on it and, maybe... use it." Between toiling at many jobs in their outlaw little life, there's been a lot of meditation, a lot of slow moments where Bruce goes off on his own, comes back late at night.
"Then what do you think would be the right thing?" Don't have to dance around it, Bruce. Betty knows your secrets.
"Not putting you in danger," Bruce is quick to answer. No, no we do have to dance around it. Having her here means everything to him, but if this means she's in harm's way...
"I'm not in danger. You won't hurt me. You've saved me. The military won't do shit to me, Daddy's all talk." Betty slouches. "My sense of self-preservation is pretty strong. I wouldn't be here if you ... Shut up."
Bruce finally just pulls her down to sit on the floor with him, grabbing her hand to bring her closer. Shutting up, dear.
She thought he never would. Betty wraps her arms around him. "Stop telling me to go away, because I'm not going to." Half amused, half annoyed. It's like she's telling him to stop leaving the toilet seat up.
He kisses her temple. "Alright, I'll stop." Swallow your fear, Banner. "This probably isn't the hefty grant and tenure you always wanted..."
Betty snuggles and sighs. "You can't have everything you want in life." So she's grabbed onto the one thing that seems most important and stuck with it.
He pulls back to look at her, faux-troubled. "That sounds ominous."
She grins, he's so transparent. "Doesn't it though?"
Bruce takes a breath and sort of takes the moment in a sort of philosophical light. No, you can't have everything you want in life. A lot of things Bruce wanted, he can never have. Doors have closed, the idea of a real life just a fantasy at this point. Worry and that sort of weary sadness Bruce can collect these days, he leans in to kiss her. He can't have everything he wants in life. Not for long.
Betty gladly kisses him back. This won't last like this forever. Either he'll get rid of it, or he'll control it, keep it away. Or maybe she'll die sooner than she'd like. You should have thought of that before you fell in love with him, Betty. It's good for now.