"Alright, big guy," Skye said as the door locked closed behind them. It wouldn't open again until Jarvis sensed The Hulk had transformed into Bruce. "What do we have to work with?"
The Hulk's lips stretched into a toothy grin. He lifted a boulder the size of a small car, crushing it between his palms.
"Want smash?" he asked, handing a smaller chunk of the rock to Skye.
Skye took the rock from her soulmate. She wrapped her hands around it, body humming with concentration. It exploded into dust, power slinking back beneath her skin. A great rumble echoed through the cavernous room; Hulk was laughing.
"Sky man see?" Hulk asked the intercom panel after she successfully destroyed several more. "Pretty smash too."
"Yes, master Hulk," Jarvis answered fondly, "Skye is very apt at reducing your boulders to dust."
"Pretty, huh?" Skye asked, craning her neck to meet the green man's eyes. Skye shrieked as he scooped her up, and set her on his shoulder.
The Hulk hummed out a low rumble of agreement, "Banner thinks pretty too."
"I sure hope so," Syke said, mind flashing to the way he'd held her in the kitchen, careful and desperate. "But this time isn't for Bruce, I want to get to know you, Hulk. What do you want to do?"
"Hulk want?" He asked in awed sort of shock. And Skye realized with a sad little frown that no one was on the habit of asking Hulk what he wanted. He was used to being ordered, controlled, redirected.
"That's right, Hun," Skye reassured him. "What do you like to do?" Hulk lifted a pile of leafy branches in the corner to reveal giant, colourful building blocks carved with letters.
Bruce woke up naked, a small dark haired woman sprawled across his chest. Skye, his brain reminded him. Hulk rumbled. Pretty. Skye.
"Bruce, I kinda need you to not move," Skye said. That was when he noticed that she had both hands extended upwards, a ripple of energy holding up the makeshift fort of blocks. "Hulk bumped into the igloo wall mid transformation." She let out a fond snort of laughter, "Sorry about the positioning, I think he forgot I was still on his shoulder when he decided you needed to see our fort right this instant." She directed the blocks off to the sides one by one before climbing to her feet. "Come on, Jarvis said he had clothes for you." She helped hull Bruce from the floor, brushing dust and splinters from his hair.
"You were on Hulk's shoulders?" Bruce asked in horror, "Jesus, Skye. Tony never should have let you in here."
Skye scoffed, "Bruce, I'm a grown woman. No one 'lets me' do anything. I wanted to get to know my soulmate, so I asked him if I could come along. And it was very considerate of him to pick me up so we were at eye level."
He sputtered in rebuttal, but she silenced him with a hand clasped over his mouth. "No, Bruce. I know I don't look like much, but I know what it's like to be the monster. I don't have Tony's armor or Clint's arrows. This thing is inside me and I have to learn to live with that. You should know better than the rest what that's like." Bruce's eyes softened.
He reached up to take her hand from his mouth, intertwining their fingers, "I do, I'm sorry." He glanced around them, letting out a gruff laugh, "The two of you could have torn this building to the ground, and you build a block fort."
Skye grinned at his gentle teasing, "Yeah, yeah. Let's go get that fine ass of yours in some pants, jungle man." okay, so maybe so was an ass kinda gal.
Bruce stumbled blearily as they make their way down the hall. Skye rolled her eyes, wedging herself against his side. His arm draped over her shoulder. "Tony's floor, J," Skye said as they stepped into the elevator. Bruce raised a curious eyebrow. "I may have hacked post battle protocol while Jarvis was training me earlier. I assume accidental transformations follow the same basic procedure?" Bruce hummed, sagging against her. He mumbled something about another tech genius soulmate with no concept of personal privacy. Skye snorted in laughter, "What're you hungry for?"
Skye flinched when she heard Tony step off the elevator. J had said he was still absorbed in coding Ultron. She hadn't meant for him to find her here. It was one thing for her to take Clint's spare bedroom or spend time with them on common floors, but this was Tony's living room. She was suddenly acutely aware of how invasive she was being. Tony found her sprawled across the living room floor, DVDs scattered on the ground before her.
She tested his reaction with something light, teasing, "I can't believe you, Tony Stark, still have actual DVDs."
Tony smiled, "That's mostly Steve's doing. He says he doesn't like the feeling of throwing perfectly good films away. He never had much growing up."
Skye nodded, she unfolded the plush grey blanket and draped it across the back of the couch, "He's certainly got good taste. How does Bruce feel about Die Hard?" It was only then that he noticed the giant bowl of popcorn situated on the coffee table.
"Moving right on in, are we?" Tony teased, dropping onto the other side of the couch.
Skye flinched, "I was just leaving." Tony's back stiffened.
"Sure," he chirped. "Of course. You'll probably want to be getting back to Clint." Skye stumbled backwards at the suggestion. She had overstepped her bounds in an effort to take care of Bruce.
"Right. Clint." Skye choked out. The floor began to tremble. She clearly wasn't wanted here. "I'll just be going then."
"You're leaving?" Bruce asked in confusion, appearing in the opposite doorway. His eyes have dark circles smeared beneath them and he's clad in Tony's t shirt and soft flannel pajama pants. "Did you eat without me?"
It was Tony's turn to flinch, "Brucie bear, I'm sure she has other things to do today. We're not her only soulmates."
"Everything's still in the oven," Skye assured them, "but Tony's home. I'm sure he'd rather I not continue to impose now that he's here."
Bruce sighed, eyes flickering between her and Tony, "Stay, Skye." He moved to curl up in the soft nest of blankets she had arranged. "Tony," he mumbled, dropping his head against the other man's chest, "Stop trying to push away our soulmate. She wants to be with us."
"Lights, Jarvis," Tony said softly and the room was bathed in the glow of the TV. "Come on, Skye, you're going to miss all the exposition." Bruce let out a sleepy hum when she snuggled into his other side.