The hot New Mexico sun beat down on his shoulders as Hulk wrestled the giant worm into submission. The thing was easily three feet taller than him, though not nearly as wide and strong. He wrapped his giant arms around where the thing's neck should be.

Normally Hulk would just smash its head open. It was much quicker. But he couldn't do that today, because Tony wanted something to study.

"Why does all the really cool shit get carted back to S.H.I.E.L.D?" Tony complained, at the fight with the alien crabs a few months earlier. "Just this once I'd like to get the honor of cutting into some dead aliens and seeing how they work."

And the dead things that S.H.I.E.L.D did let him keep...well most of those had been cracked open and destroyed by either Hulk or Thor, and were basically useless. But not today.

Nope, Tony would get the whole stupid worm thing to do science on, even if Hulk had to fight this thing the long way.

Because then Tony would give him that wide smile that made Hulk's insides feel all melt-y. He'd know that Hulk kept the thing whole, just for him. Maybe Tony would even kiss him. It'd be a light kiss on the cheek, probably, but Hulk would take any Tony kisses he could get.

The worm gave one final scream and then laid limp in Hulk's arms. He let out a huge huff of breath at that. Hulk pushed the stupid worm off of him and let his head fall back on the dirt.

It was stupid, thinking about kissing Tony. Tony and Banner had been dating for months and not once had Tony done more than give Hulk a brief hug. So why would he kiss Hulk over a stupid worm?

His body screamed for action. The others were fighting the other worm somewhere across town. He knew he should help them. But...well his mind didn't want him to get up.

His mind wanted Hulk to lay right down in the dirt and do nothing but think about Tony—about the way Tony smiled at him, which made the world seem bright and happy, about the way Tony called Hulk names and teased him, like he was just like everybody else. He wanted to think about the way Tony trusted him, treated him like another human being and never once acted like Hulk was stupid.

The way Tony patted Hulk's arm and called him a hero. The way he smelled, his beautiful eyes.

And what his stupid brain thought about most was the fact that Tony wasn't his.

Hulk shook his head. This wasn't what Hulk did, laying around feeling sorry for himself. This is what Banner did. Hulk goes out and beats things up when he feels bad. He goes and he fights. So Hulk leaned down and picked up the dead worm and put it across his shoulders. He followed his own footsteps back to the edge of town and then stopped.

To his right there was a store. It took a bit but then he understood. "Secondhand Books" the building said. Hulk didn't do much reading, but Banner did. And Banner was the one Tony loved. Maybe there was something in a book somewhere. Something that could help.

Hulk dropped his cargo into the dirt in front of the store. He ducked his head and stumbled in. The light was very dim and the place smelled very dusty. It was the book dust smell that Banner liked so well. It made Hulk sneeze.

The small, old man at the counter jumped up in an effort to run away, but only hit the wall behind him. Hulk looked away, eying the books. He found that, if he didn't act like he noticed someone, that they didn't really matter, that it calmed them down.

" Hulk needs a book." He said, still looking at them.

To the old man's credit, he didn't take his opening to run. And, after taking a few deep breaths that Hulk pretended not to hear, started to speak.

"Well, sonny, this here's the perfect place for it. Now what kinda book are you after?" He slowly approached Hulk and Hulk didn't move, because people get really scared when Hulk moves.

Hulk can feel his face heat up. He twists his hands together and then forces them to stop. That was another Banner thing.

"Romance." Because Hulk would not let this tiny man with white hair see him embarrassed.

"Heh," the man let out showing Hulk to the section in the front. "I don't cotton much to romance myself, more of a westerns man. But those books sure sell well. Got any specific ones in mind young fella?"

Specific ones? Hulk thought. There was more than one kind? "What kinds are there?"

The old man laughed again. "Oh a bunch! There's what they call supernatural romance, which is beautiful women with beautiful vampires and such." Hulk flinched at that. Tony may be beautiful, but he wasn't a woman.

And Hulk wasn't beautiful or a vampire. Wasn't there anything about beautiful men and scary looking Hulks?

"Alrighty, then of course we've got us a section of the classics," the man said, moving to the next shelf.

Classic. Now that sounded better. Definitely the kind of thing Banner liked. The old man moved forward and picked one up.

He handed it to Hulk, who took it without thinking. "Now I've even heard'a this one. Supposed to be the ultimate romance novel."

Hulk squinted and read the title "Wuthering Heights." Hmm...that sounded familiar to Hulk too.

"Hulk wants this one." He said, holding the book to his chest. Then he realized there was a problem with that . "Hulk don't have money." He grumbled as he said the words.

This is why Tony's with Banner, he thought, because Hulk does stupid things like try to get a book without money.

The man's eyes went wide with fear for a bit but then quickly covered it up with a large fake smile.

"Well you're just in luck, buddy. Hulk's get books free here." That didn't feel right to him. Not just that he knew the old man was lying, but that he was giving Hulk what he wants out of fear.

Although Hulk really needed the book. What if this book told him how to win Tony? Could he leave the store without it, thinking about how he will never know if the book told him what to do?

So Hulk mumbled out a 'thanks' and left as soon as he could.

Hulk walked until he found a shady alley between two vacant buildings. All of the surrounding area was abandoned, the civilians having already fled in terror from the worm creatures. He laid the worm thing's corpse against the wall and leaned back against it. Thankfully, the worm made a better pillow than it did a fighter.

The tiny book fit into one hand, so he used the other to turn the pages. He squinted at the words,the sentences. Both were way too long for his comfort. Why couldn't this woman just say what she meant? And the story...the man who was telling it was just so...so snobbish.

Yeah, that was the word, snobbish. Judging everyone around him and only liking Heathcliff because he's pretty. "What a jerk".Hulk grumbled to himself as he kept reading.

Shouldn't there be a love story by now? Hulk was two pages in already! He didn't grab this book to read about dingy houses and angry people. And that's all it seemed Wuthering Heights was about! Heathcliff hates the angry young lady, who hates the angry young man and they all hate the narrator who's staying with them for no reason...his head spun with confusion.

Was the annoying narrator man going to fall for the angry young woman? Or maybe, the angry young man? Hulk's thoughts perked up at that. The narrator was rich, probably, and refined. And the angry young man was rough looking, with large hands, probably with scabs and scars. Maybe the big, scary looking young man would end up with the rich and refined one...?

Nope. Not only did the narrator think that the young man was with the young woman, but he felt sorry for her because of it. The idea of that, feeling sorry for her for being with this man, just because of how he looked!

Hulk felt his heart beat faster, the anger surging through him.

"She has thrown herself away on that boor from sheer ignorance that better individuals existed" Said the stupid narrator man. Hulk felt his hands grip the book harder as they shook.

He forced breath in and out and in and out again. No, can't destroy the book. Maybe it's just getting good. He felt a thought in the back of his mind trying to come out. It wasn't Banner trying to talk to him it was...something he didn't notice.

Something about...the book, the book! He read something but didn't understand it, a few pages back. Maybe he just read over it, because everything was so confusing on every page so he couldn't focus on it all at once.

It felt like something very important. Banner would have understood that it was important the first time. But Hulk couldn't understand books as easily-which didn't mean he was stupid or anything.

So he turned the pages in desperation and finally found it. The stupid narrator was talking about being in love. The only real mention of anything useful in the first 13 pages of this annoying book. Even with the hard-to-understand way it was written, Hulk thought he understood what the narrator was saying. He read through the sentence again and again, to make sure he did it just right.

"I never told my love vocally; still, if looks have language, the merest idiot might have guessed I was head over ears: she looked at me at last, and looked a return—the sweetest of all imaginable looks."

Could you tell someone how much you loved them just by looking at them? Was it really that simple? This book was supposed to be the best romance ever, even the cover talked about how famous it was. If he couldn't find stuff about love here, then where else could he find it?

Hulk was sure he never gave Tony love looks before, at least if he did, it wasn't on purpose. No, he made a habit of not looking at Tony if he could help it. At least, not when Tony was paying attention. People got scared when they had Hulk's attention, so he rarely got to look people in the eye. Which wasn't fun, in part because Tony had the most beautiful eyes Hulk had ever seen.

Maybe that's what was wrong. Hulk didn't have Tony because he didn't look at him enough! And not just any looks, the love looks the narrator talked about. And, when he gave them to Tony, then Tony would give him the sweetest of all imaginable looks.

Hulk stood up quickly and hefted the worm back on his shoulders. He kept there with his left hand, his right hand gripping the book. He looked to the sky and, seeing it wonderfully empty, took a giant leap and set out to find Tony.

Which didn't take long. He found the team surrounding the other worm thing. Thor riding on it's back, trying to land the death blow while the others got scared people out of the way and Tony watched from the skies.

Finally Thor killed the thing (it didn't even take Hulk that long when he wasn't using all his strength.) Thor jumped off of it with a large grin and Tony finally began to float back to earth.

Hulk made sure to look directly at him the entire time. He didn't even notice his team gathering near him. He had to put everything into looking at Tony and everything in that look that he felt. So he thought real hard about it.

I love you. He thought over and over. Hulk loves Tony so much. The way you smile. The way you tease and flirt and your pretty white teeth. How smart you are and how much you trust me.

Tony finally hit the ground. Hulk concentrated harder as he watched him take his helmet off and walk toward the group.

Hulk loves Tony with everything. Hulk would die for Tony if he could. Tony who treats Hulk as a friend, as a man.

Tony stopped short. He gave Hulk a confused look. "Anything wrong Big Guy?"

"Wrong?" Hulk asked, thinking his love thoughts at Tony as hard as he could.

Tony took a step back.

"Did I do something to piss you off, somehow? Step on your toe? Unknowingly insult your mother?"

Hulk shook his head. "Tony didn't do anything." He felt his heart sink. He did it just right, didn't he? He thought his love thoughts as hard as he could, tried to make them show on his face. Tried to tell Tony what he felt.

"Then why're you looking at me like you're about to punch me in the face?"

Hulk blinked. "That's how Hulk looks?"

He saw Tony begin to relax. "Well yeah...huh and you didn't even know it..." Then Tony shrugged and with a smile said, "Maybe that's just how your face works. What's with the dead worm Jolly Green?"

Hulk fought to make the cold feeling in his stomach go away.

"For Tony." He mumbled.

Tony's eye's brightened in a way that were almost too much for him to take.

"For me?" He said, making grabby hands at the dead thing.

Hulk nodded. "Tony said he wanted an alien to do science on."

Tony moved forward toward Hulk and then stopped. "I did? When did I say that? I think I'd remember...Wait...you mean the fight with the crab things? But that was months ago!"

Hulk could feel a blush burning on his cheeks, although he knew it probably didn't show on his green skin.

"Hulk remembered. Got Tony a whole worm, one that S.H.I.E.L.D can't touch."

Tony smiled his best smile at that. The one that showed his pretty white teeth and made the lines by his eyes show. The one that meant he was truly happy.

"Oh, Hulk. I gotta tell you, even with all my millions, this has got to be in the top five presents I've ever gotten."

Behind them, they saw Natasha landing the quinet. Tony grabbed Hulk by the elbow and walked him toward it. "Seriously Big Green, this is incredible. I'm gonna drag Bruce into the lab to cut into that thing and not let him leave for weeks!" He flashed that grin again.

Hulk tried to match his smile. He peeled his lips back and let his teeth show, knowing he couldn't look as pretty as Tony, ever.

Tony flinched back and then laughed. "Between the two of us, smiling doesn't do wonders for your face. Now you look like you're gonna punch me in the face and sincerely enjoy it." Then Tony sauntered into the jet, not looking back.

Hulk guessed it was just like what the narrator said about Heathcliff. Hulk must have a ""perverse set of facial muscles that will not, like those of other people, interpret the language of his soul""

He grumbled, pushing Thor into the dust as he moved to get into the jet.