Darcy MFing Lewis (myeu_muh) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2013-03-29 23:50:00 |
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Bruce Banner didn’t often make it out of the lab at what most people would consider a “normal hour”, but he wasn’t so late tonight. His workload had decreased significantly with the disappearance of Madeline Berry, as much as her departure had stirred mixed feelings within him. The appearance of the other Captain America had likewise made for an interesting week. Bruce wasn’t one for wanting to know what his other-world doppleganger was like, and given what little he had heard of the other Banner, he was glad to be in the dark. However, based on what Peter and other-Steven had confirmed... Bruce was just a little (guiltily) glad to be considered a friend. Certainly a better one to the Peter, here, than the other Banner. Bruce knew it was silly to compete with another universe’s version of himself, but at the same time, he had to be doing something right, right? So it was with a slightly lighter burden on his shoulders that he knocked on the door to Darcy’s apartment, bearing homestyle cooking from an inexpensive-but-tasty diner a few blocks away. The motley assortment of macaroni and cheese, cornbread, greens, chicken-fried steak, and chocolate icebox pie in his arms was enough for five people - or one Darcy and one Bruce with a Hulk-sized appetite. They hadn’t made official plans for tonight beyond Darcy bumping into him earlier in the day and inviting him by; Bruce hoped that she hadn’t already eaten. While she’d been expecting Bruce, Darcy had not expected to open her door to find him with an arm full of food. She’d done a quick clean of her apartment (and even lit a few pumpkin-scented candles so the place was smelling delicious) despite the fact that Bruce knew she was a clutterbug. Tomb raider sat on her TV paused and her assortment of teas was sitting out in front of her keurig for Bruce to dig into like he usually did when he came over. “Haaaaaay,” She swung the door open and grabbed a few of the food items from his arms just so he wouldn’t risk dropping something as precious as pie, and took off to the kitchen, calling out over her shoulder. “I’m just going to let you have full access to my apartment. Come and go as you please. But you brought food! That’s a pleasant surprise.” “I couldn’t decide what to get, so.... everything,” Bruce explained, shuffling into her apartment and automatically going for the silverware for the pair of them. When they ate, they tended to do so on her couch. Preparing himself some tea, he eventually settled in his usual spot, kicking off his shoes and leaning back, exhaling as he relaxed. Or at least, relaxed as much as he was capable of, which admittedly was of a lower standard than the happy-go-lucky Darcy. “Got any plans this weekend?” Bruce asked after chewing and swallowing his mac and cheese politely. Small talk wasn’t really typical for him, but he was mulling over something he wanted to address with her and wasn’t sure how to bring it up. Darcy slung her feet over his lap and settled in while shoveling food into her mouth at a rate anyone else probably would’ve considered rude. But considering she’d seen how much Bruce could put away... They’d learned a long time before that teasing each other about eating habits was a little ridiculous, at least. “Oh, you know. The usual Easter Sunday call to memaw that is unavoidable. And either living with the guilt of not going to church that morning or going and falling asleep.” She wiggled her toes against his thigh and grinned, “Oh and I figured I’d harass my boyfriend a little. You?” “No plans,” Bruce answered, “I’ve never really been an Easter person.” He said it lightly; the Walters had never bothered much with church, and he’d missed out on anything more religious than an egg hunt growing up. “I’ll probably eat too much chocolate.” And go in to the lab some on Sunday, but that was par for the course and just as well unsaid. He’d finished off his chicken-fried steak by then and set the empty box to the side, leaning back against the couch and resting his hands on her legs, dragging a thumb over the top of her foot idly. Casual togetherness was still a bit too precious to him for it to be second-nature. Bruce had assumed that he’d never find the same intimacy with anyone after his relationship with Betty had crashed. The Hulk was too large and fierce an obstacle to ignore. While he and Darcy hadn’t worked out all the fine print of their relationship - and Bruce was cynically certain that their as-of-yet inability to actually have sex would be the kicker - she had assured him that she was here for it, all the same. And Darcy was not a woman that Bruce could freeze out. “I promise to share some of the haul mom sent me. She told me I had to give you some anyway, so.” Half of that had been because Darcy’s mom was one of the overbearing ones that was convinced she had to feed a guy to keep him around, and while that was at least semi-true with Bruce (if only just so he didn’t starve), she at least figured it was for a good cause. Not because she had to bribe him to stick with her. Okay, maybe bribing wouldn’t hurt. Especially if he was looking all relaxed and like he had something on his mind. The food and casual touches were a good sign, though. If he was looking to have another you-can-do-better conversation, she knew Bruce wasn’t the type to settle in. “But you look like you’ve got something on your brain, Doc. Share with the audience?” Bruce had to smile just a little at that. Darcy’s mother had been kind enough to send him enough candy to supply an army over the last few months. At her observation that he looked like something was on his mind, however, he looked a tad guilty. “Oh-- sorry, I wasn’t meaning to-- it’s nothing bad. Probably,” he added in a mutter, since the extent of ‘bad’ remained yet to be seen. “But-- I-- there’s a little bit of backstory, here,” he apologized, and started in: “Alex Summers - one of the X-Men from a different universe - was able to fight and-- subdue the, ah... you know. Other Guy. Twice, apparently, although he also apparently lost a few matches. I asked him if he’d care to attempt to replicate his efforts here.” It would be an amazing relief to have a backup plan. No backup plan was foolproof, but they had Loki running around underfoot - Loki, who had ruined his hard-won track record of controlling the Hulk, and would likely glee to doing it again. Bruce saw flashes of what had happened on the helicarrier from time to time - Natasha’s grimly stricken face, particularly - and the sheer lack options for the Avengers had been staggering. If there was an option.... if Alex could help.... “That twiggy guy?” Darcy asked, only semi-joking. She sat up slightly and slid in a little closer, legs still draped across his lap. “Subdue for how long? What’s your actual goal for this?” Okay, so she probably had more questions than he had answers, but he had her full attention. Most of the time, she came off as flippant and teasing when it came to the Hulk, but she did actually take the idea of him seriously. Most of the time. She just trusted him a lot more than most people did, which came from trusting Bruce explicitly. “I mean, regardless, if you think it’ll help or is a good idea, you’ve got my two-thumbs up. Might be nice to know you’ve got a backup in case something goes wrong.” Provided he doesn’t get sent back via the Tesseract after getting Bruce’s hopes up, at least. “Apparently, he made him transform back to me. Mostly? It’d be nice to figure something out in case things go bad,” Bruce answered, still stroking her leg as he tried to frame his thoughts. He usually censored the precise nature of his thinking because it was far too blunt and self-loathing for general public consumption, and Bruce hated pity as much as he hated Fox News. “Even if it could point us in a direction of something that could be independently replicated - not dependent on Alex Summers - that would be worth it.” “Of course, some factors won’t be ideal - he feeds off anger, and this would be a willing experiment, so he wouldn’t be as powerful, necessarily, as he would be ordinarily...” Bruce’s voice trailed off. “Either way, I’m asking some of the Avengers to spot in case things get out of hand.” She took in the information and confirmed with a slow nod, eyes drifting across his features. She couldn’t exactly blame him for wanting a way to subdue the Hulk that didn’t rely on his own emotions at all times. Because god knew that was annoying enough, to not be able to lose your temper without someone nearby thinking you were going to destroy an entire city-block. “Not that I’m trying to divert your attention away from science or whatever, but,” Darcy slid forward even more and slipped onto his lap, sitting back against his knees. “You know what else helps with the whole anger thing? Orgasms. I mean, so I’ve heard. You should pass that memo along to Hulk next time you talk to him. The happier you are, the happier he is... etc, etc.” Bruce had gotten used to her X-rated segues, but--- okay that was a lie, he doubted he’d ever be used to them. He half-laughed, half-coughed, his face predictably turning a bit red as he took off his glasses and set them to the side. “I’ll uh.... let that sink in.” He was grateful for her casual acceptance of the Hulk, even if he worried that she treated him too lackadaisically. Still, he much preferred that to pure fear. No matter how justified it may have been. Sitting up a little, his hands moved to her face and neck, allowing his spine to relax just that one pinch more as he looked at her, one of his small, tensely-allowed smiles on his face. “If Alex and I spar - you get to pick up dinner that night.” He had a feeling he’d be spent. Darcy graced him with a bright, open grin and scooted in a little closer. It was terrible how much she enjoyed it when he got flustered, but always fun to make him flush slightly and take off his glasses. Surefire sign she got to him a little. “Deal.” She leaned in to kiss him lightly, “I get you for the night, right? Even without - you know - you should stay over.” She kissed him again, “Eat pie in bed. Watch a movie.” She knew it was a longshot, but tried for it anyway - given how bendable (heh) he’d been when it came to dates and getting out of the lab on occasion, Darcy had a tendency to overshoot and hope she got somewhere in the middle in the end. It usually worked. Bruce smiled against her mouth, knowing he probably was as easy to read as anyone. He’d never perfected a poker face even after years of learning to blend in, to remain forgettable. “Well... let’s see,” he said. “I don’t have anything tomorrow morning...” Unknowing that she was pitching a fastball to see how much she could get away with, he tilted his head and kissed her in his manner: slowly, sweetly, and surprisingly assured. For as used as he was to pushing down his alter-ego, Bruce relished the brief window of time he got to concentrate on someone far more pleasant... Which was when his phone began to vibrate in his pocket. She stamped down the urge to cheer triumphantly and wrapped both arms around his neck instead, totally willing and able to accept whatever level Bruce was able to offer tonight. With knees on either side of his hips and lips fluttering across his neck, Darcy was trying her best to ignore the vibrating coming from his pocket. Damn science. “Why, Mr. Banner, are you just happy to see-” When another text message alerted, Darcy sat back slightly with a sigh. “Go ahead.” Standing in the way of science or The Avengers was never in her genetic coding, thanks to Jane. Bruce was not a person to annoy on a good day, and as he maneuvered around Darcy to get at his phone and scanned the first set of messages, his face got decidedly darker. By the time he arrived at Peter Parker’s main point, he was considering just letting Alex stop him from throttling Spiderman. Two birds, one stone. However, Peter’s ultimate point dissolved the anger into a focused concern. Bruce texted back quickly and efficiently, looking up at Darcy with an already apologetic expression beginning to swell over his face. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but I may need to... do some SHIELD stuff. Nothing big,” he added quickly, lest she think aliens were attacking again and/or that the Other Guy would be making an appearance. “But they need me to run some tests.” Darcy’s face fell with Bruce’s dark expression and she slipped off his lap wordlessly, but with a heavy sigh. “Well, hey, at least we managed dinner? That’s one for the books?” Most of the time she was lucky to get finish more than a poptart when she was around Jane, with as fast-moving as the astrophysicist was. “The quicker you go, the quicker you can come back, right? If, you know, the tests don’t take all night.” She wasn’t going to bet against it, considering how many all-nighters either of them had pulled over the last year. “I don’t think it’ll last long,” Bruce said, hanging a smile on his face that didn’t meet his eyes. Another round of phone-buzzing, and he said: “I’m going to take some of this food with me. We’ll - I can’t really say too much, but we have someone that might need it.” Secrecy wasn’t really his problem, but he didn’t want to betray Carol and Peter’s trust. His stuff gathered, he hesitated a half-second before leaning forward and kissing her, feeling incredibly guilty. Not that he’d promised anything, but really. Peter’s superheroic timing couldn’t have been worse. “I’ll see you when I see you.” “Right, right. Classified. I know the drill.” Her level of security clearance was good - but still not Bruce Banner level. He was an important man, even if he was modest enough not to see it as clearly as she did. “Go, get your ass out of here and I’ll have Jarvis let you in if you want to come back later on tonight.” Reaching out, Darcy gave his behind a sound smack with Bruce on his way out. Science was a real bitch to contend with in a relationship, dude. |