Dr. Banner (yogammagamma) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2015-02-12 09:11:00 |
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It has been 122 Days since you have last punched Tony Stark in the face. Was Bruce's idle thought as he approached the cashier at Brew Ha Ha, taking stock of his life since he'd arrived in this universe just a few months ago. He'd gotten a great job at Horizon Labs, he'd started a relationship with an even greater Carol Danvers, and he hadn't gone this long without becoming the Hulk in... He couldn't even remember how long. This were controlled, relaxed, uncomplicated. Even his work with the Avengers didn't carry the same edge that it did back home. Doom seemed to move a little slower in this neck of the woods and he liked it. It was a welcome change from the Illuminati meetings, the world ending predictions and the mysterious death of the watcher. He looked up at the coffee menu behind the bar, trying to decide what he wanted to order alongside his unhealthy pastry breakfast, and almost didn't notice the way the person in front of him who was waiting for his change was staring at him. It wasn't until he approached the counter and the other man didn't quite move away that he finally looked at him. Then, his jaw almost dropped. He'd recognize that ancient, beat up leather jacket just about anywhere. "... Holy shit. Rick? That -- is that you?" Rick’s whole life always boiled down to “right place, right time.” Or more often than not, “wrong place, wrong time.” Jumping through dimensions and being torn to this place didn’t really phase him much. He took the money and the apartment and decided this would be a nice little vacation from weirdness. Even if it was weird in itself. Then Bruce fucking Banner walks up to get coffee. He stopped staring long enough to answer, “Yeah, yeah it’s me.” Rick clapped a hand on Bruce’s shoulder and gave him a slight shake. “And it’s you! You’re here!” "It's me! I'm here." Bruce replied, letting himself be tosselled by Rick a little before turning to the cashier and stammering through a now forgotten order. "Oh, eh-errrr -- Coffee? With, an Americano actually and one of those things the -- that's a muffin right? Blueberry...Peach? Fine. That. Thank you," back to Rick, "you! When did you get here is this like a new thing? Are you -- wow, you look -- God, it's good to see you." Bruce was perfectly capable of ordering coffees and having conversations, doing both at the same time after being thrown for a loop by an old friend he hadn't seen in far too long -- that was sort of another story. But here he was, in the flesh. Another soul for the tesseract's collection of the displaced. There were half a dozen things he wanted to tell him, and twice as many questions he wanted to ask. "Are you busy? Right now or can we..." Sit down. Talk. Like normal humans who know each other. Bruce, when the hell is wrong with you he thought to himself as his words failed and he just gestured aimlessly towards the few empty tables in the back of the cafe. Rick watched Bruce and laughed a little. Shh, he was allowed. “It’s a new thing. Just got here last night. Not busy.” He put his hand back on Bruce’s shoulder and walked with him back to the tables. “So, what’s up with you? You seem squirrelier than normal.” He took a sip of his coffee and pretended he was cool. Because he wasn’t. He was just as excited to see Bruce here. He already had a friend here! It was working out better than he thought. But there was a nagging thought in the back of his head. It’s Bruce. The man who’s life you ruined. “I’m just -- you know, suprised to see you here.” He took out his phone to text Max at Horizon Labs, just to let him know that he was probably going to be a few hours late. Horizon was generally good about letting the employees flex their hours here and there. It was an important consideration when looking for work, when your other day jog was being an Avenger. “I’ve only been here since the beginning of August. Tony Stark is here, so are a few of the other Avengers. No Reed Richards.” Thank God. “What about -- what’s been going on with you? What’s the last thing that happened before you got here?” Rick looked down at the table, moved his cup over a few inches. Yeah, yeah, he could do this. “The last thing I remember was trying to get a group of former superkids to fight crime again. But-- like, I was also trying to get the Runaways to stop what they were doing. Are there any of those guys here?” He shook his head, “It’s a mess, I was just trying to stop them from turning into me.” Maybe steer away from that subject. “Before that, I got Marlo back from Moondragon with a song.” “The Runaways?” Bruce tried to think. Honestly, everyone under the age of eighteen sort of looked the same to him, so he couldn’t really be sure who was involved with what or which tiny superhero team consisted of which members. He knew David Alleyne, and had some idea of what the deal was with the Young Avengers because Teddy Altman had talked to him while he was here, but otherwise -- Nope. No clue. “Maybe? I don’t know.” He broke a piece off of his muffin and slid the plate towards Rick a few inches in case he wanted to share it. “But come on, being you isn’t all bad, right?” Banner owed a lot oh who he was to Rick, for better or for worse, it was Rick’s life he’d left the shelter to save, before the Gamma Bomb had gone off; the accident which had triggered the Hulk, but there were so many layers to Bruce’s mind; personalities and problems and repressed anger -- that he couldn’t really blame Jones for just being in the wrong place at the worst possible moment. And he’d never regretted saving the kid’s life. Besides, after that, Rick had proven he was worth his salt and had gotten Banner out of more than his own fair share of scrapes. |