Disclaimer: I do not own the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Electric Light Orchestra. I just use both to inflict amusement on the world.
Soulmate AU Reminder: Everyone has a Soulmark, a tattoo of the first words their Soulmate will say to them. Showing someone else your Soulmark is like baring your soul to them, so most people only show their Soulmate or very trusted friends.
Bruce Banner was seventeen years old when he punched his best friend in the face for refusing to stop singing Electric Light Orchestra lyrics at him. This hard learned lesson taught the young man more than just the value of keeping his Soulmark private. He also became aware of his own anger issues.
As he continued through life, he avoided Classic Rock radio stations and people who brought out the worst in him.
After the Battle of New York, he went with Tony Stark, despite the man's musical tastes. It was for science, he told himself.
Tony instituted a "Classical only" in Bruce's lab after a seemingly innocent argument about a certain late 70s hit ("that is not the way the song was originally written!") caused a Hulk-out.
Bruce was content not to meet his Soulmate. He had become so annoyed by the Words that would eventually be said to him that he knew that he would probably lose control at their first meeting.
So he took deep, calming breaths and put on some opera.
Doctor Foster didn't seem to have any musical preferences when she arrived to occupy the lab space on the east side of the floor. She wasn't bothered when he wanted to listen to the latest album by his favorite soprano, and she never played any music of her own, unless her ringtone counted as music. (It didn't.)
Doctor Foster's assistant, the pretty brunette who bossed her around, did enjoy music. So much, in fact, that it was several weeks before she acknowledged his presence. And even then, it was just a smile and a wave from behind her ear buds. Bruce allowed himself to admire her from the other side of the room, but he immediately crushed the idea of asking her out for a cup of coffee. If he did, and she said yes, what would they talk about? Music? If so, he knew just which song would become the topic. ...He didn't even want to think about it.
The best part of sharing the lab space was not the view but the chance for collaboration. Bruce liked Doctor Foster, "It's Jane, please. If you're going to force me to call you Bruce, then you have to call me Jane," and he enjoyed being able to bounce ideas back and forth across the room with her.
Often when they were "playing idea tennis," (as he had overheard Darcy term it) Darcy would take up position halfway between them in the middle of the lab and pretend to pay more attention to her phone than their conversation. Bruce knew she was listening, though, because if they were making progress with a hypothesis or excitedly planning new experiments, she would smile. If they were having a hard time solving something that seemed impossible, she would frown.
That day, she had climbed up on top of a lab table and was sitting cross-legged, scowling. Her phone was in her hand, but she wasn't doing a very good job of paying attention to it, and had even popped an ear bud out of one of her ears.
Jane pitched an idea, and Bruce shook his head, pointing out the reasons why it wouldn't work. She sighed, modified it, and pitched it back.
Bruce scratched the back of his neck, knowing that his colleague didn't like to hear his logic, but that she needed to. "No, that would counteract—" he began.
"Ugh," Darcy sighed, and turned in his direction. "Don't bring me down, Bruce."
"Darcy," Jane chided. "It's not his fault that physics won't physic the way I want it to."
"I know, but if you fix this, you can go get your alien mancake," Darcy replied, and turned to her iPod, popping the earbud back in.
"He's not doing it on purpose," Jane informed her, but Darcy was lost to her tunes.
Bruce wasn't in the mood for any more science, but surprisingly, he wasn't angry. He decided it was probably a good idea to get some air, though, so he informed Jane of his intentions, hung up his lab coat, and wandered out of the room.
He preferred the stairs to the elevator, just in case, and didn't mind walking all the way down to street level. But what he didn't expect when he walked out the front doors of the tower was Darcy, her ear buds dangling down the front of her jacket.
"You hitting the park?" she asked. "Come on, I'll buy you a snow cone or something."
Bruce followed her mutely, allowing her long winded apology to wash over him. "...And it's just that she's so... she hides it in front of other people, but she's really upset about the whole, 'he promised, and then totally didn't come see her even though he was here saving planet' thing, or whatever. It was a dick move. Maybe promises don't mean the same thing where he's from."
She paused to poke some money at a vendor. "So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I appreciate you trying to help her, and I didn't mean to scare you away from that, or anything."
Darcy held out her purchases. "Strawberry or Blue Raspberry?" she asked. Bruce shrugged and took one at random.
They walked in silence for a few minutes, enjoying their frozen treats.
Then, just as she took a huge bite, Bruce said, "I hated that song my whole life, you know."
Darcy dropped her snow cone.
"Brain freeze and my Soulmate," she reported, as she looked into his apologetic face.
"I'll buy you another," he promised.
You got me runnin', goin' outta my mind
You got me thinkin' that I'm wastin' my time
Don't bring me down
Author's Note: Oh look it's a blog (links to videos, citations, whatever) iwillwriteyourfic DOT blogspot DOT com SLASH 2016 SLASH 05 SLASH a-simple-device-dont-bring-me-down DOT html