Man it is nice to be back. Writing so dang fast here!

For those who didn't spot it in the summary, this is a Science Boyfriends (well, eventually) fic. It'll be a slow build though: I'm a fan of slow builds. I hope you enjoy!


Chapter Four

Tony

Nick Fury was a pretty intimidating guy, all told.

"Stark, have you lost your goddamned mind?" he barked. Tony could almost feel the waves of irritation pouring out of the vidscreen.

"No, wait up Long John, hear me out here," Tony said in his most persuasive voice, the one he'd always used to wheedle Pepper into doing his paperwork for him – once upon a time. And that was a bad thought to be having at this point in time and he should get back to the task at hand. Right. Hulk. Yeah.

"The Hulk is a danger to each and every person in this city," Fury continued, his good eye steely. "That cell's the only thing protecting New York City, eight million people, and you want to let him out?"

"He'll get out eventually, if he gets mad enough," Tony shrugged.

"Stark, that thing is pure adamantium, the strongest alloy on earth," said Hill. She was peering over Fury's shoulder, her face unimpressed.

"And 'the madder he gets', yadda yadda boom smash," Tony replied. "Look, we're gonna do this anyway. Just giving you the heads-up because I am a sharing and altruistic soul and a team player."

"Stark," Fury said repressively.

Tony heaved a sigh and turned back to the Director on the vidscreen. "Look, okay. He's proven that he can learn," he said patiently. "You watched the footage, right? He showed actual empathy. That's totally new. He put himself in Br-Doctor Banner's shoes - and for once it wasn't just a literal bodyswap. He showed that he can understand how another person... uh, being... feels."

"He's been sharing headspace with Banner for six years," said Hill in an inflexible voice. "Banner's a special case. That's not proof that he'll understand how anyone else feels."

Tony scowled and ran a hand through his hair, thinking furiously. "Well, how about Culver? He protected Doctor Ross. Hell, he saved me."

"Right after knocking Thor through a wall," said Fury evenly.

Tony's grimace was fleeting. He schooled his face as hurriedly as possible. "Yeah, but Thor put a hammer-dent on Big Green's chin. He's like a little kid. Can't you remember what it was like to be a kid? I know I would have tried to get even."

"Stark, I shudder to think what you were like as a kid," Fury drawled.

He ignored that. "Look, kids like things to be fair, yeah? They're totally obsessed with 'fair' and 'not fair'. Hulk even used those exact words. You're not giving him a chance, and he helped save the goddamned world. Come on over and talk to him before you decide to throw away the key."

"Would the Hulk even consent to talking to SHIELD agents?" Hill said. "He's shown that we're not exactly his favourite people."

"Actually, it's more individuals he's not a fan of," Tony mused. "I don't think he really cares who you work for or what you do – you could be a crossdressing unicyclist scientologist mass-murderer and he wouldn't give a giant green rat's ass, as long as you were nice to him. And to Bruce," he added.

"Right," Fury said. He still seemed sceptical.

"Sir, the Council will-" Hill began.

Fury's back stiffened. "Oh, I know what those jackasses will say. In fact, their attitude sorta encourages me to give this maniac what he wants."

Tony gave Fury his most winning smile. "Pretty please? I'll build you a new helicarrier."

"We haven't finished repairing the old one yet," said Hill, and gave Fury a sidelong glance. "Because of all the damage done by, oh wait, the Hulk."

"I'll fix it, how much do you need," Tony said as fast as he could. Fury rolled his eye.

"Stark, it ain't just the Hulk damage. Hill, stand down."

Hill sat back a little, scowling. "Yes Sir."

Fury crossed his arms. "How is Doctor Banner going to be involved in this little school project?"

"He'll be training him, of course," Tony waved a hand dismissively.

"And has he been informed?"

Placing a hand over his arc reactor, Tony affected a wounded expression. "Oh, Nicky, now you're getting personal. Of course he has."

"And how does Doctor Banner feel about that?" Fury was far too perceptive , Tony decided. Spies were creepy.

"How should I know, I'm not his therapist," Tony said, as breezily as possible. "There was a bit of a tiff earlier, but it's all sorted. He's on board."

Fury glared at him. "A tiff."

"It's sorted," Tony insisted.

Hill rubbed at her eyes. "Sir."

"I said, leave it, Agent Hill," Fury said and didn't take his eye away from Tony. That was the problem with one eye, Tony thought. It had all the penetrative effect of two compressed into just the one. That was why it felt like a laser.

"There is no way in hell I will ratify this if the only person who has proven able to control the Hulk is not on board," Fury continued.

"But he is," Tony said. "So... it's good, yeah?"

Fury paused.

"He is," Tony insisted.

"All right, Stark, you got a week. Get the Hulk to understand how to act around other people, and then we'll come over and evaluate the situation."

Tony wrinkled his nose. "How are we supposed to train him if we don't let him out of that testing cell?"

"You're so resourceful, you figure it out," Fury said, and the connection flickered to black.


"I'm not so sure about this, Stark," Steve said as Tony gave him a little shove towards the cell.

"Come on, Cap, for me? For the team? For Bruce? For strictly adhering to prisoner's rights under the Geneva Conventions?"

Yeah, he thought that might do the trick. Steve straightened his shoulders and reset his jaw, and then peered into the cell. "Hulk?"

There was a grunt, and then a massive green fist slammed against the peephole. The fingers covered it completely, knuckles lined and whorled.

"Well," Tony said after a moment, "that went well."


"Yeah, sure," Clint said. "Hang on, I gotta get my bow."

"No weapons," Tony said. "He'll flatten you if you're armed."

Clint looked up. "So let me get this straight. You want me to go down to the Hulk cage."

"Yeah."

"Try to talk to the Hulk again."

"Yeah."

"Maybe go inside."

"Well, if he looks okay with that. He likes you."

"Go inside the Hulk cage... unarmed."

"You know, when you put it that way..."

"See ya, Stark."

"Shit. Legolas, wait...!"


"Keep walking," said Natasha.

He did.


"Of course!" Thor slapped him on the back. "Let me go and get Mjolnir..."

Tony pulled a face. "This is going to be Clint all over again, isn't it?"


Bruce gingerly stepped up to the peephole, and inside, Hulk went utterly wild. He roared and smashed against the walls, making the very air shudder around them. The noise was indescribable.

Bruce's mouth quirked. "Yeah, no," he said, and turned away. "This isn't going to work, Tony."

"Come on, Bruce!" There had been a spark of life in Bruce's dark brown eyes, and Tony knew it, he just knew it.

"He'll never listen," Bruce said, and the elevator opened. "All he does is smash."

"You didn't even try!" Tony yelled after him. Bruce didn't stop. The doors closed behind him.

Well. That just fucking sucked. Tony stomped back to his workshop and downed two beers in rapid succession.


Bruce

Bruce drifted into his lab and sat behind the computer, his mind a numb fog. He stared at the blank screen for a moment or two, before turning it on and sighing. He scratched under the sling as he waited for it to boot up. His arm and collarbone were healing, but the cast made everything itchy.

No doubt Natasha or Clint was surreptitiously watching him from somewhere, just in case he tried to leave again. As though anything in the building could escape JARVIS' attention.

He flicked through the files absently, and corrected an equation here and there. Tony was right, though; his heart wasn't in it. Even the murky, intricate world of science, where he had always found his delight in minutiae and fine details, couldn't hold his attention. His one haven, gone. He closed the files and sighed again.

So he was drifting. So what? It was still preferable to...

But he wasn't himself. He really wasn't.

On a whim he pulled up the feed to the adamantium cell, and watched the Hulk sleep for a moment. The great creature was sprawled out on his belly, his huge arms and legs akimbo. His face, so like Bruce's own, was scrunched up in anger or fear even as he slept.

He hadn't known about sleep.

For the first time in years, Bruce wondered about the motives behind the rage. He thought about why the Hulk had smashed him when he had realised that they had been separated. Perhaps Hulk had simply taken the opportunity for revenge after so many instances of being locked away in their head? But then, Hulk had also seemed ready to pound Clint into mush simply for jarring Bruce's injured shoulder.

He'd also seemed genuinely upset at being left alone.

He studied the Hulk for a few seconds longer. The green face twitched, frowning, before smoothing out a little. He looked... less angry. More sad. The lines in that huge face were deep and carved, just like Bruce's, and they pulled his mouth down into a configuration that Bruce could have drawn from memory. He saw it almost every day in his own mirror. The Hulk nearly looked... human.

Bruce rubbed his face roughly, and then switched off the feed.


Hulk

"Okay, Big Fella."

Hulk blinks, and suddenly the dark place full of shapes and colours is gone. He is back in the shiny metal room.

"Here's the story," Tony is saying, and Hulk grunts a bit as he pushes himself up. He feels strange.

"Where shapes and colours go?" he mumbled.

"Oh, you're not quite awake yet, huh? I know how that goes, I'm not human until I've mainlined at least three coffees," Tony laughs, and Hulk scowls at him as he rubs at his face and hair. Hulk's face feels funny. His palms rasp against his skin. "Don't think it's such a spectacular idea to get you a coffee..."

"Hnnnh," Hulk humphs, and rolls to his feet. He plods to the door with its tiny little slot and peers through. Metal Man is smiling.

"I talked to those people I mentioned. The ones we need to convince to let you out."

Hulk is suddenly very aware. He doesn't feel funny anymore. Hulk looks at Tony and presses his hands either side of the door.

"We've got a week to show that you can do it," Tony says.

"Week?" Hulk's eyebrows lower.

"Seven days," Tony says and his smile gets a little sadder. "That's seven days, buddy."

Hulk huffs and gives Tony a confused look.

"It's... okay, wow." Tony rocks back on his heels. His face is surprised. "You know about the weirdest things sometimes, but you can't count? Well. Um, hold up your hands?"

Hulk holds up his hands.

"Damn, you know what they say about a guy with big hands. Now, try making this sign? Peace!" Tony holds up one of his own hands and folds down some of his fingers. Little, puny fingers, pink and smashable. Hulk must not smash. "That, plus the fingers of the other hand? That's seven."

"Seven," Hulk echoes, and folds down the fingers on both hands.

"That's right – ah, but only one hand does that. Look, watch me." Tony holds up both hands. One is different, making the sign, and the other is stretched out. So little. So puny. "That's the number of days."

Hulk studies Tony's hands for a moment, and then arranges his own hands. His are better. Bigger.

"That's it, now you got it."

Hulk looks at his hands some more, and then growls. "Too many!"

"I know," Tony sighs. "I want to teach you out here, but they won't have it. But hey, the time'll fly by, Big Guy. You're going to be learning so much, you won't have a moment to think about all that."

Hulk scowls some more. As if Hulk ever stops thinking about being free.

"Besides, what they don't know won't hurt 'em, right?" Tony winks. "We'll get you out on the sly, provided you don't smash anything. We'll set some rules down, all of us together. You, me and the team."

"Rules," Hulk sneers.

"Gotta be rules, pal. Otherwise there's just, well, chaos." Tony makes a face. "I'm not the biggest fan either, but I at least can get the reasoning behind 'Do not attempt to eat this building,' or 'World Domination is strictly prohibited.' We'll make the rules together. You get a say in them. It wouldn't be fair otherwise."

Hulk grunts. "Hulk, Tony and team. Metal Man, Star Man, Shooty Bird, Shouty Longhair, Red-Black Woman, Hulk."

"That's right."

Hulk gets a say. Team gets a say. That is fair.

"And, uh..." Tony says, and he sounds a little bit like fear. "Well. Banner's going to help."

Hulk's eyes widen, and then he snarls. It is good. Loud. "Hulk hates Banner!"

"Message received loud and clear," Tony says and rubs at his ears. "But he's part of the team as well, you know, and you two need to learn to get along. You're both... weird without the other. You've got totally no direction, and Banner's a ghost."

"Banner... ghost? Banner dead?" Hulk doesn't know what to call the sensation in his chest. It hurts. He hates it. He beats at his chest and roars, but it doesn't stop.

"No! He's okay! He's okay!" Tony shouts, shrill. The smell of fear is back in the air.

Hulk breaks off, panting. He glowers at Tony. Stupid puny Tony, making Hulk's chest hurt.

Tony talks very fast. "He's fine, I absolutely promise, Big Guy. He's totally fine, he's upstairs, he's just... weird. He's drifting. It's like he got all the thoughts and you got all the emotions."

Hulk narrows his eyes at Tony. Hasn't forgiven him yet.

"So, we're going to show you how to get by in the world without scaring everyone, and without getting scared," Tony says, and he sounds like he is pleading. "Bruce is going to help, because no matter how much you two hate each other, you belong together."

Hulk grunts, and then offers, "Hulk not finished."

"Not finished what, the Kong impression? Roari-oh, you mean..." Tony's eyes get bigger and he looks shocked. "You're not finished. You're unfinished. You're incomplete. Oh. Wow."

Hulk nods.

"Shit. You are smart. Hope Bruce likes the taste of crow; he is going to have to eat humble pie for years."

"Pie?"

"You're hungry?" Tony smiles, and he looks very excited. Hulk nods again. "I'll get you some food. And jeez, you might have to stay in there for a bit, but let's liven it up a bit for you at least. Whaddaya like, smash-wise? Bricks, rocks, metal?"

"Hulk smash!"

"Yep, we're all big fans. But do you have a preference in smashing materials?"

Hulk is confused again. "Hulk smash," he shrugs.

"No preference, just smash," Tony grins. "Gotcha."

Hulk rumbles, not pleased, but he accepts it. He must stay. He must not smash the people. He must not smash the team. He will get things to smash, and food. Banner will come, with Tony and team. They will teach him. He will make rules. That is fair.

"When?" he asks abruptly.

"When do you get to smash?" Tony raises his eyebrows.

"No." Tony is being stupid. "When Banner and Tony come to Hulk? Make," he sneers the next word, "rules."

"Ah," Tony says, and then he sighs. "Gotta get an answer from Brucey-babes myself on that one."

Hulk said to Banner that Banner leaves Hulk alone for always. For always.

Hulk hates Banner. Banner came, Hulk scared him away.

Banner will leave Hulk alone for always.

(No! Hulk does NOT miss Banner! )

"Soon," Hulk says, and then smashes once or twice on the shiny floor. He is confused. He hates it. Hulk is angry! Banner makes Hulk confused! "Now!"

Tony needs to explain again. It is hard to think without Banner in their head. Banner thinks too fast, but Banner knows. Banner always knows.

"I'll let him know," Tony says, and the fear-stink is back and Hulk hates, hates, hates. "Hulk... you can't smash every time you don't get it. No-one can do that, not even you. It scares people."

Hulk sorry. "Hulk scare Tony?"

"I just want to see you outta there, Hulk. And you can't if you don't quit with the smashing everything."

"But Hulk love smash."

"Sorry, pal."

Hulk thinks again. So hard. "Hulk not scare. Not smash. Hulk not get locked up."

"Maybe that can be Rule One?"

Hulk lets out a great breath and it whooshes around the shiny room. "Hulk hates rules."

"Aw, knock it off with that face! I'm gonna start calling you the Incredible Sulk."

Hulk looks up. "No smash?"

"Not unless Star Man says, or it's something you're allowed to smash," Tony corrects, and it isn't fear-stink at all. It's worry.

Tony should not worry.

Hulk hunkers down and carefully places his hands in his lap. "Hulk no smash. Rule One."

"You're the best, Hulkster," Tony says, and smiles.

Hulk hesitates, and then he smiles back.


Bruce

It took two straight hours of wheedling, whining and downright pestering until Bruce finally agreed to come back down to the testing cell.

"For the record," Bruce said, "I think this is a bad idea."

"It's a fantastic idea; it was one of mine," Tony said, and tugged him onwards by his good arm. "C'mon, blankface, you've gotta reconnect. It's like talking to fog."

"Flattering."

"Just talk to him. He wants you to."

"Yes, I saw how much he wanted to talk last time."

Tony airily ignored that. "Once you're on his wavelength, we can get the others involved down here."

"I'm sure Natasha's simply falling over herself to renew their acquaintance," said Bruce.

"She's fine, it's all fine. She's more about pushing you out of this weird-ass drifting you're doing."

"Why are you pushing this so hard?"

Tony's mouth was set in a thin, hard line. "Because no-one should be locked up when they don't deserve it."

Bruce sighed. "That's not the whole reason, is it?"

That was also ignored with practiced nonchalance. "He wants you to come see him this time," Tony insisted as he palmed on the lights in the outside room. The huge metal sides of the testing cell rose before them. "He asked for you. He's bored, and lonely. I gave him a few smash-toys, but he tore through them in minutes. He likes music, did you know?"

Bruce gave him a confused look. He had absolutely no memories of himself-as-Hulk and music. "No?"

"Simple stuff, with a good heavy rhythm. I'm thinking of getting him into Taiko drumming."

"That's a spectacularly bad idea."

"You are always so negative." Tony said, and turned to the cell. "Hey, Big Guy? Got you a visitor."

Bruce held his breath.

There was no answer from the adamantium room, and Tony frowned. "Big Guy?"

There was a snuffle, and Bruce's shoulder twinged. He swallowed. "Tony, I don't..."

Brown eyes regarded him sharply. "Not so numb now, I see."

"I'm going back," Bruce hissed.

"Nope," Tony said. "No way, you agreed. Keep your word, Brucey, that's what a man is worth, etcetera, etcetera. He's probably asleep. I'm gonna go look."

As Tony made his way towards the cell, Bruce pressed his good hand against the side of his thigh. His palms were sweating again. He was trembling slightly again, and his heart was in his throat. No, not so numb anymore.

Three times now.

Proximity, perhaps?

But that hypothesis suggested that close contact with Hulk was necessary in order for Bruce to function emotionally. That wasn't a solution Bruce found particularly appealing.

It also suggested that... no. No. The whole notion made him feel ill. Still, it was at least feeling something.

"Yeah, he's asleep again," Tony whispered. "Come on, come and look."

Bruce shook his head. "I'm good here."

"Banner, get your pretty little ass over here before I kick it," Tony snapped sotto-voce. "I think something's wrong."

"Nice to see my realism's having some effect on you," Bruce said.

"Pessimism," Tony muttered. "It's called pessimism, and get over here now."

The snuffle had turned into a subterranean rumble, and Bruce's heart was now galloping. Well over 200 beats per minute, definitely. "No."

Tony shot him a filthy look, and then turned back to the viewing slit. "Hulk? Hulk, it's Tony. It's okay, buddy..."

Bruce frowned. "But he's asleep, you said."

"For fuck's sake, Banner, this separation has turned you into a... a normal person," Tony said in disgust. "What happens when we sleep? What might cause someone to moan and toss in their sleep?"

For a moment Bruce stood there. And then he was stumbling towards the cell, his pulse thudding in his ears and stomach like a Taiko drum. "Oh, god..." he gasped. "Is he..."

"Fuck, we need to stop this," Tony said, and stepped aside so that Bruce could see.

In the shadowed cell, there was rubble and twisted metal struts all around a furled, hunched figure that had to be, must be the Hulk. The rumble was now a snarl, and Hulk's face was contorted in hate and fear. The huge muscles of his shoulders were bunching, and worst of all, the fingers of his hands were leaving giant dents in the adamantium floor.

"He's worked up enough to rip that floor up," Tony muttered. "We've gotta wake him up, gotta stop this..."

"No," Bruce said, and couldn't believe he was about to say this. "Get me in there."

Tony stopped and his mouth dropped open.

"I know what to do," Bruce said, and fear and pity and rage and sorrow flickered, no, blazed through him, and he'd missed having emotions, he really had. This was real, this was how it felt to be alive. "He sometimes pushes at my control during my nightmares. I know what to do."

There must have been something new in his face, because Tony turned back to the door, uncovered a panel and punched in a long code. Bruce's eyes followed it, memorised it, and there were his skills, thoughts bright and sparkling; there was his intelligence working once again.

But only with the Hulk. Only when they were close.

The adamantium door, at least a foot thick, swung open with a ponderous creak. "Close it behind me," Bruce muttered.

"You know, you're sort of leaping over a few million behavioural development steps here," Tony said in a strangled voice.

"I don't think the Hulk comes with a manual," Bruce replied.

"You'd better hope he does, otherwise you're fucked, Big B," Tony said, and swung the door shut behind him. "I'm calling Thor. JARVIS, get him down here, god, five minutes ago."

"Yes, Sir. Mister Odinson has replied that he will be there in two minutes."

"He hates Thor, he'll see him as a threat. Don't you dare send him in without..."

"You got the stage, Bruce. Still, Thor's the only one who can take the green guy if it gets out of hand. I'm not letting you get smashed again. It's a contingency, I'm good at contingencies. But you might want to hurry," Tony added as Hulk's fingers wrinkled the adamantium even further, like a normal man crumpling a bedsheet.

Bruce turned back to where his worst mistake lay, tossing and snarling and whimpering in what appeared to be a nightmare. "Oh god," he whispered. The door closed shut behind him with a solid, final noise. Frankenstein was locked in the cell with the monster.

"Bruce, move!"

And of course Hulk was his worst, greatest mistake. Hulk had been the accident that tore apart his life. But that wasn't Hulk's fault. He hadn't asked to be born.

If he were to be believed, he'd been part of Bruce forever. All the accident had done was grant him face and form. Bruce took a few hesitant, shaky steps forward and knelt down as close to the giant green body as he dared.

God, he's huge.

No wonder people were terrified of Bruce.

He could recognise the signs of the nightmare worsening, and worse still, could even guess which one it was. Blonsky, Harlem, Betty. Only in Bruce's dreams he was too late to thunderclap the fire from the helicopter. He was too late to stop the Abomination from levelling the city. The scaled foot would crush his head, and Bruce would watch green slime, like virulent thick blood, pouring out of him in a gushing fountain.

Then Hulk's snarls escalated, and he roared aloud, "Metal Man!" and Bruce revised his guess. Oh. That one.

The one where Tony splattered onto the concrete like a dropped melon.

"Shh," he said quietly. "It's me. Tony's okay."

Hulk roared again, and this close it wasn't hard to hear an angry child howling within the savage, ferocious noise. Bruce began to hum. It was an old, low, lilting tune, the same one his mother had calmed him with when he was very small.

"Are you high, Bruce? Humming? Talk to him, for Christ's sake!" Tony's voice hissed from the doorway.

"Do you want to do this?" Bruce hissed back. "Be ready to show him that you're okay. It's the falling nightmare again. I've always got to find you after that one." He barely heard Tony's short intake of breath as he turned back to the tossing behemoth and resumed humming.

"No, Metal Man, Hulk... Hulk..." Hulk managed, and his eyes flickered beneath his closed lids. REM sleep, Bruce noted, humming as comfortingly as he could. Dreams usually coincided with the end of that cycle. He'd be waking up soon.

The huge hands, each finger the width of Bruce's forearm, began to uncurl. His breath hitching around the little tune, Bruce carefully reached out with his good hand and placed it on top of Hulk's.

Same shape. Bigger, of course. But same shape.

Hulk was wincing and snarling in his sleep, but he was definitely responding to the humming. With sweat prickling the back of his neck, Bruce tentatively rubbed his thumb along the back of Hulk's mammoth hand. Those old, same, self-soothing touches. The skin was rough and unbelievably thick.

"Hnnnh," Hulk mumbled, and the snarls turned into whimpers. Bruce looked back up at the green face. The eyes were blinking open.

Bruce froze.

"Well, fuck," Tony said.

"Metal Man," Hulk rumbled urgently, and immediately charged the door, pushing Bruce over in his haste and not even noticing. He rebounded from the adamantium with a crash, and then scrabbled at the viewing peephole with those massive fingers. "Metal Man! Tony! Tony!"

"Hey, it's okay," Tony said soothingly. "It was a dream, Big Guy. Just a dream."

"Tony," Hulk said forcefully, and gave a short roar in his anxiety. "Tony fell."

"And you caught me," Tony said, and actually (because he had all the self-preservation instincts of a lemming) put his hand inside the peephole to grasp Hulk's finger. "You caught me, remember?"

Hulk grunted, and his chest began to slow its heaving as his breath came more naturally. "Hulk caught Metal Man."

"It's just a dream, pal. Just a dream."

"Hulk see shapes and colours," Hulk said, and watched Tony's fingers around his. "Metal Man falls, Metal Man smashes all over. Mummy stopped it."

Bruce almost choked, crouched on the floor amongst the rubble. The tune.

"Nope, that was someone else," Tony said, and patted Hulk's hand awkwardly through the peephole. "Now, remember Rule One?"

Hulk looked confused, but obediently said, "no scare, no smash."

"Good thing. See, it wasn't your mum who stopped it, Hulk."

No, nononono, Tony, NO.

"It was Bruce."

FUCK YOU, TONY STARK.

Hulk huffed, then snarled and span on the spot to glare at where the man crouched on the buckled adamantium floor. Bruce flinched back and raised both his arms before his face as the monster converged on him (so fast! Nothing that big should be that fast!) and then he muffled a cry as his injuries spasmed and screamed. His whole shoulder was on fire from the wrench he'd given it.

"Smash," Hulk rumbled darkly, and shifted from one foot to the other. One fist was raised high in the air.

Bruce closed his eyes tightly, and sucked in a sharp breath that ended in a high whine of pain. That blow would smear his brains across the floor.

"Banner, smash!"

Well, he wasn't a coward, no matter what Tony might say. He was stronger than this. He was stronger than Hulk. He'd kept him down for years; he'd flouted Ross and the US Army, even SHIELD, all without the monster. Bruce raised his head, and fixed the beast with a defiant stare.

"Do it," he grated.

Hulk shifted between his feet again, and the great green face twisted. "Banner," he said again, and he sounded horribly confused.

"Thor, thank god -well, thank you - uh, now might be a really good time..." Tony gabbled.

"Hush," Bruce heard the Thunderer say. "Observe. There is something..."

Bruce gingerly lowered his arms. Hulk was looking at him, and his eyebrows were lowered in a dark scowl. His fist was still raised high, but the crushing blow never came. Hulk's arm was frozen, his feet shuffling, his weight shifting, uncertain and conflicted.

Bruce's eyes widened.

"Banner," Hulk said yet again, and a roar built in his throat, growing and growing to make the whole cell ring like a vast bell. He then whirled to bring his fist down on the pile of rubble beside him. Bruce flinched and covered his face once more as woodchips and shards of metal flew through the air. Hulk roared and roared, smashing the rubble over and over. Finally he subsided, his barrel chest rising and falling.

Bruce clambered unsteadily to his feet, crouching low. He felt like he was going to be sick. He felt like he was going to faint. He felt so damn alive.

"What..." Tony said, a million miles away.

Hulk turned to Bruce and huffed. "Rule One."

Then he shambled away to crouch in a corner, his face a thundercloud.

Bruce swallowed, and glanced at the closed door. Tony's hand beckoned urgently, and his dark eyes were wild, the whites showing. Then he looked back at the hunched monster, the green eyes fixed stubbornly on the ground. Bizarrely, the image that came to mind was of himself, a child, angry and alone and hurt.

Maybe not so bizarre, come to think of it.

He couldn't believe he was going to do this... but he'd faced the Hulk once more and he had come out unscathed. Perhaps third time paid for all. Statistically, that was rubbish, of course, but then luck and people weren't always a matter of statistics.

He turned towards the Hulk and began to pick his way over the rubble.

"Bruce, what are you doing?" Tony choked. Bruce ignored it, and kept moving towards where his alter sat, glowering.

"Is this not what you wished for?" Thor sounded perplexed. "He is reaching out to his warrior-self. Was this not the purpose of the intervention?"

"That was to stop the moron leaving," Tony snapped, and the bolts of the door began to slide away. "Not to get himself killed!"

"Tony, keep it shut," Bruce commanded. "We're good here."

Tony stared at him, his open mouth a black circle in the gloom. "He's lost his mind."

Bruce smiled. "The opposite, actually."

"Ah," Thor said, and his smile was abundantly clear in his voice. "I see. Man of Iron, you should harken unto the Doctor's words."

Bruce nodded to the god, and then turned back to Hulk. His eyes had flickered over to them curiously as they talked, but when he noticed Bruce's renewed attention, they snapped back to glowering at the ground. Bruce had to restrain another smile. A toddler, all right.

He resumed his awkward way over the rubble, the shards and rocks sliding under his feet. Hulk rumbled warningly as he came closer, and Bruce paused. Then he began to hum again.

Hulk's eyelids immediately lowered slightly, and his head dipped.

"You know that tune," Bruce said softly, interrupting his own humming.

Hulk grunted through his nose. "Hulk knows."

"You were there, then?"

"Mummy."

Bruce's whole soul cried out at that word, but he steeled his jaw. "Yes."

Hulk had been there. Hulk had seen that. Seen him. Seen his mother – and his father. Hulk had always existed.

"I didn't know," Bruce said sincerely, and took another step. "I didn't understand."

Hulk grunted again and turned his shoulders away a little bit, towards the wall. "Banner think too fast."

Behind them, Tony muffled a snort.

"You didn't hurt me," Bruce said, still speaking slowly and softly.

Hulk threw a scornful look over one giant corded shoulder. "Rule One," he rumbled, and gave him such a look that Bruce could almost hear him saying, you idiot.

"I heard," Bruce murmured, and took yet another step. "No scare, no smash."

"No scare, no smash. Hulk smash bad men, and Hulk smash things that Metal Man or Star Man says. Then Hulk free." Hulk looked down at his fingers, and then held up a peace sign. "Seven."

"Ah," Bruce darted a look back at Tony, who was giving him an apologetic little shrug. "Almost. But that's good. That's great."

Hulk looked at him suspiciously. "Banner never pleased with Hulk."

"I am now," Bruce said truthfully, and took another step. The rock under his heel rolled, and he stopped himself from falling by stumbling ungracefully. His ribs and shoulder screamed at him, and he bit down hard on his lip.

Hulk was standing faster than thought. "Banner hurt!"

"I'm fine!" he croaked. "I'm okay!"

Hulk frowned, his eyes narrowing. He lowered his head until it was almost level with Bruce's. "Lies," he rumbled.

Bruce took a shuddering breath and braced his shoulder with his good hand. "Yes, I'm hurt. But it's okay. It's getting better."

Hulk actually sniffed at him. "Hurt." Then his huge fists bunched. "Shooty Bird?"

Bruce actually laughed. Tony had been right – right about fucking everything. Hulk was here to protect him. To save him. "No, he didn't do it. He just nudged it. It's sore, and moving makes it hurt more."

Hulk's hands unclenched very, very slowly, and he stared for a moment into Bruce's eyes.

"It's like The Iron Giant written for HBO," Tony muttered.

"I should have known that was your favourite animated movie," Bruce shot back, and the laugh Tony produced was shocky but delighted.

"He's back. Gimme five, Point Break."

Hulk frowned, and his finger lifted to prod Bruce's good shoulder. "Not here."

"Nope, not hurt there," Bruce agreed. "This," and he lifted the cast, and flicked the sling's strap. "It's helping the hurt get better."

Hulk looked lost – and when Hulk looked lost, angry wasn't far behind. "But Banner heals," he snarled. "Hulk... Banner not get hurt."

"Oh," Bruce blinked, and then he sighed. "It's because we're apart now. You heal – well, you don't really need to. You never get hurt. But remember when we fell off the bike? We were ten."

Hulk frowned. Impending violence was still lurking in his eyes, but his lips pursed in thought. "Hulk thinks better with Banner," he remarked. "Wheels. Leg."

Bruce gaped.

"Bruce?" Tony said, a bit tentatively. "You okay there?"

"We both think better," he said, and he could feel the incredulous expression begin to spread across his face. "We think better together."

His mind worked. He could think, remember, feel. And it wasn't just him. Hulk's mind – the rage monster could actually remember things, think things, process things. Hulk's motivations... the rage... they were all. All his. And all the emotions, the swirling whirlpool of feelings that was Hulk. That was him. That was him...

...with the brake line cut.

He was going to kill Tony for being so fucking right. He was going to...

This was huge. This was incredible. This was...

Awful. It meant that Bruce was a murderer.

(And a hero.)

Hulk canted his head. "Wheels. Falling. Leg in white."

"That's right, broke our leg. They put a cast on it. Like this one," Bruce agreed, deciding once and for all that it was we, our, us. The evidence to support the hypothesis was overwhelming.

Still, proof was not incontrovertible fact.

Hulk made a purling sort of noise deep in his throat, and reached out to touch the sling. Even at his most gentle, it still made tears rise in Bruce's eyes. "Ah! Oh, fu- I mean, uh. Darn. I... Hulk, no, it hurts. Like our leg. I don't heal without you."

Hulk's lip peeled back in a puzzled snarl. "Hulk here."

"But not here," Bruce tapped his head.

Hulk blinked, and then his own hand slowly rose to tap against his own green temple. "Here."

"That's it," Bruce said as encouragingly as he could. Bile was rising in the pit of his stomach.

Hulk suddenly threw his head back and gave a savage growl. "Hulk trapped when in Banner's head!"

"I don't like to say I told you so..." Tony's voice lilted out of the darkness, and Bruce rolled his eyes.

"Yes you do," he retorted.

"Damn, is it good to have you back, snarky kitten," Tony said gleefully.

"Shut up or I'll recalibrate every door in the Tower to say "'Bend over, big boy,' instead of 'Welcome, Mr. Stark'," Bruce shot at him. "I'm having a moment with my childhood id here."

Thor began to laugh.

Bruce turned back to Hulk, who was once again scowling furiously. Absolute hurt in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he said, and then cleared his throat.

Hulk's eyes widened. "No. Banner lies."

"I mean it. I'm telling the truth."

"Banner never sorry for Hulk," Hulk rumbled sceptically, and began to straighten.

"Hulk," Bruce blurted, and then reached out and put a hand on that gigantic chest. And froze.

The huge heart under his hand was steady, reassuring but fast. It beat in absolutely perfect time with his own.

"I really am sorry, Hulk," Bruce managed, and shifted his hand until he could feel that radioactive blood pumping under his palm, almost as though it was still washing through his own body. "I'm so sorry I kept you locked up. I'm so sorry."

Hulk simply looked at him.

"Hulk?" Bruce ventured uncertainly.

"Why," Hulk said flatly. "Why sorry, Banner? Why now?"

"Well, uh," Bruce cast about for an example. "You know how you didn't understand why people run? Why they shoot? Why they lock people up?"

"Scared," Hulk said, and slowly began to sink down again onto his haunches.

"I didn't understand what you wanted," Bruce said, and his eyes slid to the side as shame, actual shame closed his throat. "I didn't get it. I do now."

He really was a monster. A monster with two bodies, two faces. A murderer.

"Hulk wants to be free," Hulk said, a trifle wistfully. "Hulk wants to be left alone, no scream, no shoot. Team. Friends."

"We will," Bruce promised. "We'll make it happen."

Hulk looked down at where Bruce's hand pressed against his chest, and harrumphed a little, a whuffling noise that was ever so slightly happier. Then that giant hand reached out, and he pressed it against Bruce.

Tears sprang to Bruce's eyes as his ribs yet again protested, and Hulk snatched his hand away. "Hurt," he rasped.

"Hurt," Hulk said, and looked down to his feet. "Hulk sorry too. Hulk hurt Banner."

"Hey," Bruce said through the zing and zip of pain through his ribs. "It's okay. We've hurt each other enough now, though. Don't you agree?"

"Enough," Hulk nodded.

Bruce patted the rough green chest, absently noting that Hulk had hair just like his own there. A bit greener, maybe. "You need a bath. Four days without one, you're getting a bit on the ripe side."

Hulk shook his head, and sniffed. Then he rumbled unhappily. "What were colours and shapes?"

"Colours and shapes?"

"Tony falls. Smash on ground. Then Mummy."

"Oh," Bruce said, and squashed the little pang of sadness and anger that was warring with the sick feeling deep in the pit of his stomach. "It was just a dream, Hulk. We have them all the time. Bad dreams. They aren't real. They happen when we sleep."

"Sleep," Hulk said, and screwed his face up.

"That's right."

"Hulk no sleep. Dreams bad."

"Not always," Bruce said, and patted his chest again. Amazingly, Hulk bent his head and leaned in towards it slightly. It was like some hallucination made real, Bruce thought, watching his hand in a strange, sick daze. "And everyone needs to sleep. You can't avoid it. If you don't, you'll get tired. Too tired to smash properly."

"Smash!"

Bruce laughed. "Yes. So sleep is good."

"Sleep good."

"I'll be here, okay? I can hum to you when the dreams get bad. Then they'll be good again."

Hulk grunted, and then nudged at the rubble with a knuckle. "All smashed. Need more."

"I'll see that you get some more, buddy," Tony promised. "That can happen right now."

"I'm going to go upstairs for a little while. You have fun," Bruce said, and swallowed hard as Hulk's eyes lifted to his, ever so slightly wounded. "I'll be back when you eat, okay? I can help you. Let me help you."

Hulk gazed at him, and then the great head nodded. Once.

"Banner back when Hulk eat. Banner helps Hulk. Rules. Sleep."

"Very good," Bruce praised him softly. "Very smart."

The corner of Hulk's mouth lifted slightly, and then he shuffled back, sinking further into his hunched squat. "Banner promises."

"I promise."

"Hulk promise too," he said, taking Bruce by surprise. "Hulk smash now."

Bruce reached out a little to his other, his alter, and then let his good hand drop to his side and turned to pick his way back through the debris. The adamantium door swung open, and he looked back for a half-second at the monster tearing metal beams into shreds.

The door shut behind him with a final sort of clang, and he stood there for a moment, breathing very deeply. The numbness began to settle over him once more.

"Are you well, Bruce?" Thor asked, worry in his deep voice. The god was clutching Mjolnir as he hovered, clad only in track pants and a shirt. Apparently the summons had not been very convenient.

"Told you so," Tony said triumphantly, and nudged him. "Oh, that felt good. I'm saying it again. Told you so."

Bruce slowly blinked, and then smiled vaguely. "Yes, you did."

Then he threw up.


Phew. That was heavy. What did you think?

For reference, I am using an amalgamation of bits and pieces of comics-canon for the Banner/Hulk dichotomy. These include "Hulk - Season One", the "Incredible Hulk - Gray" miniseries, Jason Aaron's recent "Incredible Hulk' run of 2011-2012, and the awesome work of Greg Pak, particularly the 'Heart of the Monster' storyline, and more.

Loki says, "You were made... to review."