NOTES: Happy Monday. Being the nerd I am, I did a count of how many times each character shows up in this series, and it just showed what I already knew-I don't write much Bruce. So it's a Banner day. Enjoy.
Mumble
Bruce is constantly making noise to himself while working. Tony makes fun of him for it, even though Stark does the exact same thing while using, "I was talking to JARVIS," as an excuse.
Sometimes it's repeating data to engrain the numbers into his brain to properly plan the next step of an experiment, sometimes it's humming the melody of whatever symphony he listened to last, but there's usually some soft noise escaping his lips when he's working in his lab. There's a comfort in hearing his voice, his tenor and not The Other's Guy's baritone taking over things.
Donate
Six months after moving into the Tower, Doctor Banner trusts himself to handle small crowds on his own. Tony helps him set up a regular guest lecture circuit at nearby colleges. Bruce has missed scholarly interaction more than he realized. He brings Stark along from time to time because watching the engineer have to prove his science cred to theoretical physics post-docs is highly amusing and entertaining to Bruce. And Tony has every right to lose his temper about being seen as someone who only designs and constructs things instead of as the brilliant, albeit mad, scientist that he is.
Romance
The team mocks him for it, but he doesn't care that he's the only one who picks chick flicks on occasion for movie night. Clint and Tony throw popcorn at him, but he just picks up the pieces and eats them.
People should be able to have happy, normal relationships, even if they're just fictional characters. It's nice to live vicariously through them for a couple of hours every now and then.
And by watching You've Got Mail it becomes evident that not everyone has seen The Godfather. So really, Bruce is doing people like Thor and Steve a favor.
Froze
He hears her voice call out his name. He's walking back to the Tower from SHIELD headquarters when it happens. He turns and sees Betty standing there with a soft yet hesitant smile.
He doesn't get any closer to her when he asks, "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to see how you were doing. If you're okay."
He looks down at her shoes. He wants to reach out to her, but the image of her father's angered face appears in his mind and stops him.
She steps forward anyway and reaches out gingerly to take his right hand.
Allow
He and Betty become pen-pals. He still loves her, always will love her, but things can't ever end happily for them as a couple, so he opts for just being friends, and there are plenty of days where he's sure he doesn't even deserve to be that after all he's put her through. But he will gladly take what contact with her he can get. The others can always tell which days he gets an email from her. Some feel jealous at not having the chance to have someone who will leave a soft smile on their face all day.
