(Where this sits in the timeline: Around the same time as I don't go to Parties. Probably starting a little before. I'm not a huge fan of Hulks Comics but I adore him in the movieverse so there won't be a huge amount of Comic references in this story.)
Dr. Bruce Banner had always been more of a solitary creature, even more so after the accident. Tony knows that. After all it wouldn't have taken a genius to figure it out so it certainly wasn't beyond the brilliant mind of Stark industries. No, Tony knew he just didn't respect it. But really who did Stark respect but himself?
At the moment he stood just outside the giant glass double doors of Stark Tower, now in the midst of the renovation to make it Avengers Tower. Jarvis was under strict order not to let him back in for a full 60 minutes that only started once he left the block. He sentence began when Tony noticed he hadn't left 'Hulk proofed' lab of the subbasement for a few days. Being a 'good friend' Tony grew concerned and decided it was about time Bruce spent some time outside. At first the physicist thought it was a joke considering how much time Stark spends 'tinkering'. The two of them could go an entire week and never see each other. Not out of avoidance but because they were busy. As luck would have it, Stark had not been joking.
So Bruce Banner shoved his hands in his pockets and, seeing no alternative, decided to take a walk down the street. Part of him figured he should be... touched, in some way. Tony trusted his control enough to throw him out onto the streets of New York. Or course that hadn't stopped him from modifying the pulse monitor. Now his pulse gets to high and Jarvis sends an alert right to the tower, or the Ironman armor. Admittedly it did make him feel a little better even if he wasn't convinced Ironman could do anything if it came to that point.
The streets of New York were exactly what he would have expected in mid afternoon. People everywhere, rushing along, jostling each other this way and that trying to get from one end to another. None of them paid him any attention and he paid, perhaps, too much attention to all of them. He sighed. Alright. This would be easy. Who would just walk around the block a few time then back in the lab. Simple.
About 10 minutes into his deliberately slow walk he paused, his attention captured by a row of perfectly prepared, brightly colored cakes. Cake. Huh. He hadn't had a decent piece of cake for a few years. He shrugged. Why not? Not like he had anywhere to go or anything better to do for the next hour. He took a step back to look up at the sign over the door. Polly's bakeshop and cafe, perched on the words was a highly stylized parrot, one wing open in welcome. After a moment of deliberation he sighed and pushed open the door.
A little bell rang as he stepped in and the woman at the counter glanced up from wiping down the glass. She smiled bright. "Hi!" She chirped. Bruce gave a small nod and a wave as he slowly approached the display case. "What can I get you?"
"I- I don't know." He said, slowly scanning the case, trying to remember what he liked. "What's good?"
She got a sly look on her face. "Anything I made." She said with a quick glance over her shoulder, making sure no one in the kitchen could hear her.
"Oh, yeah?" Bruce looked up, an incredulous smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "What did you make?" He asked when she nodded, quite sure of herself.
"All of the cupcakes, the German chocolate cake, and this banana cream pie-" She added motioning to the pie in the glass case on the counter. "Fresh from the often 20 minutes ago. It was made on order then they didn't want it so it's half off each slice." She almost sang. It was clear what she wanted him to pick.
"Um... I don't know." He gave up, looking and moved over to the counter. "Surprise me."
"Alright." She chirped. "Anything else?"
"Uhm..." Bruce looked at the chalk board on the back wall he hadn't noticed before. All of the specials of the day, soups, sandwiches, whatever else they made either last night or this morning. "A chicken wrap and some Jasmine tea." He said, maybe a little too fast having just ordered the first thing he saw. He was going to be here for a while so he may as well get more then a cup cake.
"I'll have that right out." She bounced from the counter to the back door to the kitchen to give whoever was back there his order he guessed. It didn't look like they made the sandwiches up front.
After waiting a beat Bruce stepped away from the counter as sat at one of the tables a few feet away. The place wasn't very big. There were only four tables each big enough to comfortably seat two but were clearly intended to go up to four if they got busy enough. It was... calm inside. Warm, inviting. It was nice he was kind of surprised that it would be so empty until he remembered that he was in New York. NYC didn't have time for nice. Better for him. He'd much rather have the whole place to himself for the next 45 minutes.
A few minutes later the woman from the counter appeared at his side with small brown paper bag, the kind with rope handles to make it easier to carry, in one hand and a paper coffee cup. "Jasmine tea, chicken wrap, and a slice of banana cream pie." She said, clearly proud of herself.
Bruce thanked her and took his order, contenting himself for a moment to enjoy his tea and watch whatever sitcom was playing on the small television nailed up in the corner. The volume was too low to hear anything but it was something to focus on.
"Oh. I'm sorry." Bruce glanced back up at her. She seemed genuinely concerned but he didn't actually see anything wrong. "I put everything in a bag, I didn't think you were going to stay. People usually just rush out." That made sense. Bruce again revisited the fact that New Yorkers didn't just sit down.
"I can, um... get you a plate or something-" She began to offer but Bruce waved off her concern.
"No. It's fine. Don't- Don't worry about it."
"Are you sure?"
"It's fine." He insisted pulling the content out of the bag.
The minutes kept by as Bruce sat there in the small cafe, waiting. It's not that he hadn't enjoyed the food. He had. Immensely. But once it was gone he didn't have anything to do but sit and count down the seconds. Next time this happened he was going to at least bring a book... or his tablet. He was aware that the girl at the counter was watching him. Probably wondering what in the world he was still doing here. Like she'd said, New Yorkers didn't just sit. Since he'd been there at least five people had come in ordered and left, three of them while on their phones. He must have been an anomaly. Finally he checked his watch and saw that he only had about five more minutes left in his exile.
As he approached the counter to pay his companion for the past hour emerged from the back with a platter full of mini cheesecakes. "Ready?" She asked, sliding them into place in the display case. "Or can I interest you in some cheesecake?"
Bruce shook his head and smiled lightly. "No, thank you. The pie was plenty. It was very good by the way."
"You want some more of that?"
Bruce almost laughed. She really was determined to move some cakes. He started to shake his head but stopped. If he came back with something then he could prove to Tony that he went somewhere and didn't just sit at a street corner for an hour like he probably would have ended up doing had he not found the bakery. "Just box it up." He said. "I'll take it."
"Really?" She asked, looking very surprised. "The whole- like... all of it?"
Bruce nodded. He didn't intend to eat the whole thing but he wasn't the only one who lived in Avengers tower and they all had quite the appetite. Between Barton and Tony's propensity for sweets and Steve's instanced metabolism the thing would be gone before they went to bed.
"Alright!" She pulled a cake box from the somewhere under the counter and carefully packed the pie away.
"So, are you...? Is this you're bakery?" He asked. She seemed pretty enthusiastic about it and seemed responsible for most of hte pastries in the case, it seemed a fair assumption.
"Oh no." She answered, waving it off as she tied off the box with some string. "I wish. Polly's my boss. I'm Nelly."
"Ah." He started awkwardly, not having been ready for introductions. "Bruce."
Nelly smiled. "Well," She gave the box a pat. "Have a nice day, Bruce. Enjoy the pie."
"Ah... Thanks, you too." With that a polite smile and wave he ducked out of the bakery and went began to journey back to the tower.