WHO: Bruce Banner & Jan Van Dyne WHEN: 9/15, after this. WHERE: Where science happens WHAT: IDK making out stuff WARNINGS: C for COOTIES.
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It was a conversation that had to happen. Even as his hand lingered near hers, wanting to give into that impulse to kiss her again, he knew that he had to say something. This, as far as the word "this" could encompass everything between them, had reached an impasse of Hulk proportions. It was impossible to carry-on without bringing the big green guy into the conversation, and yet it was a subject that Bruce hated to bring up.
"I've been thinking about… this, this thing between us." He laced his fingers between hers, feeling like a man on the edge of a proposal. It wasn't like any proposal he'd ever done before. "About how we're going to bring it up to the other guy, the Hulk."
This had been the right choice, coming to the lab, not letting him talk, and kissing him. It was about time they'd gotten past the flirting and the spending time together. She'd never really wondered what it would be like to kiss Bruce in their universe (okay, not often), but here, she couldn't stop. This Bruce had these little rambly episodes where he'd pucker his mouth, and it was all Jan could do to keep herself from pouncing him on the spot.
Jan eased her hand out of his, only to slip both her arms around his neck. She enjoyed looking at him, that tousled curly hair that sometimes was too long and tickled the edge of his glasses. "You wanna tell the other guy about us?" She paused, then shrugged with a simple rising and falling of her shoulders. "Okay. You want me to tell him?"
He didn't know that he wanted her to do anything, except maybe stay here. He could pass the time listing off all of the things that he'd come to like about her, about how much he liked that she just acted on all those little impulses that nagged away at him. He liked that he could slip his arms around her waist and hold her, as though nothing else in the universe mattered.
Except for one thing.
"Yes. I want you to tell him. If that's…" He let out a small sigh. "This isn't something that you have to do. We could find another way."
"Yes, I do." Jan could be pretty succinct and to the point when she needed to be, and she was confident that whatever this was with them wasn't going away. In the back of her mind, she thought of Alex and Hank, and how it had been that way with them too. For Hank, it was science and making his mark in the world. Always. For Alex, it was the unity squad and getting out of a bad marriage (something she could sympathize with).
Bruce was a whole new ballpark though. His insecurities and safety precautions overrode his own desires way too often. Jan thought he deserved better. "And I will. I don't mind him. He's like the early version of our Hulk. I got through to him, I shouldn't have a problem with you. I'm as genuine as they come."
"I know. I just don't…" He didn't know if this could be fixed. He'd never tried to just live with the Hulk. He was much more of an expert at avoiding the problem, managing it from code green to code green, a lifestyle that didn't quite merit anything else. "I can't predict what he'll do. You have to know that. It could be dangerous, even if I…" He looked at her, willing himself to have the same sort of confidence that she did, willing himself to believe in this thing that was between them. "I believe you can do this."
"And I want you to do this. Maybe it's foolish to think that if we tell him, he won't become the problem, or maybe it's just that I'm getting tired of running away from it… Or maybe I just like you enough to act stupidly."
Okay, so this was serious. Very seriously. She should not have slowly grinned at the last. Janet enjoyed attention, there was no doubt about that. She enjoyed causing attention and getting it, and all the better if it happened to be someone she liked on the giving end of that. she gave him a squeeze, even as her grin broadened.
"I can do this. I want to do this." She eased up onto her tippy toes and gave him a tiny kiss, still holding his gaze. "Maybe he'll like me enough, and all of this worrying will be for nothing. I'm telling you; I'm likeable. It's my fatal flaw."
"I'd like to think worrying is my fatal flaw." Even if it was serious to willingly go green (for what? a fireside chat with Mr. Hyde?), there was a hint of levity to his voice. It was madness, really, to carry-on as though this would work out in his favor. "But if you're planning to befriend the Hulk, we should go over precautionary measures… I can draw up a list of techniques. And there's … There's always the lullabye."
Jan had faith in her abilities, and in Bruce and the Other Guy. Things were only as difficult as you made them, and if nothing else, she believed that her optimism would rub off on the other guy. And if not, well, there was always the sting of her, well, stings. Wasp flying in his ear and shouting in his eardrum wouldn't be nice either.
But Bruce wanted the precautions, so Jan nodded. "I can learn the lullabye. And I can be safe. What did you have in mind?"
The Other Guy had his own mind. So, whatever precautions that Bruce came up with were likely not to be enough, not enough to contain the Other Guy in that neat way that Bruce always wished that he could be contained. But it didn't matter. The precautions would be there, and Jan would be there, and somehow, that would work.
"Only the obvious. Somewhere away from the mountain and the rebuilding efforts. And we should probably let the Avengers know, should the worst possible scenario happen, which I'm not saying it will… But if it does."
"Better safe than sorry." She knew the drill. The last thing she wanted was for any of their efforts to cause problems for anyone else, and she wanted Bruce to feel that he wasn't a danger, that he wasn't going to hurt anyone. "I got it."
Her fingers twirled in his hair. "When do you want to do this?"
He hesitated. If he'd rehearsed this conversation, he'd never actually reached this point of it. There were too many objections to earlier parts that to be setting a time and a place was daunting; albeit, the place was already predetermined by necessity.
"Would this weekend be too optimistic?"
"Not soon enough, if you ask me." Jan just didn't have the same reservations that Bruce did, and maybe she was underestimating the whole thing because of it. Either way, she wanted to remain confident. If she didn't, the other guy would know. Bruce would know, and all of this would be a disaster waiting to happen.
"We'll talk to the Avengers later. For now…." She leaned in until her lips ghosted over his as she spoke. "Let's put that out of our mind."