Bruce closes his eyes.
He can feel spikes of jealousy pricking at the back of his throat.
Of course Clint was right.
It was extremely similar to his own private theory, the one he had designed the Lullaby around.
Bucky's condition is so similar to to his own, he feels stupid for not putting the pieces together.
Both Bruce and Bucky get pushed out of their own minds, only to be replace by something other.
Just like what Loki had done to Clint with the Teseract.
He swallows hard.
The growing itch under his fingernails is drowning out the sound of Steve's voice.
He fumbles for another cartridge of his expiremental sedative.
His hands shake as he loads the jet injector and shoots it into his leg, under the table.
He muffles a hiss.
He knew coming here was a mistake.
He had been checking on Bucky periodically, and when the synaptic anomaly had arisen, he had contacted Natasha. She'd asked him what could be done, and he had relented to her fluttering eyelashes and honey-sweet smile.
So he had offered her the use of his secret lab.
Like, so secret not even Stark knew it existed.
He had overseen the thawing process, and he had put the patient into an artificial coma for transit himself.
He had gotten everything prepared, and then went up to the courtyard to await her arrival.
She had stepped out of the chopper laughing wildly, with Clint in tow.
Clint had grinned a sunny grin at him and cracked a joke about Bruce's mysterious absences.
Bruce smiled his most placid smile and thought hard about how much he liked Clint.
He really, really liked Clint.
Alive Clint is much better than Dead Clint.
Don't hurt Clintdon'thurtclintdonthurtclint-
After that he had given them a rushed tour of the facility, blurted out a handful of instructions, assured them he could be reached via text, and left as quickly as possible.
Other than a few consultations about test results, he didn't hear from Natasha for almost two months.
Then she just texted him "Call Me"
He did, thinking she wanted to discuss the protein levels she had texted earlier.
Instead she told him Bucky threw Clint into a wall earlier, and now Clint was hitting on her.
"I mean more than is normal. More than the two weeks we poised as a couple to infiltrate a Honeymoon resort."
Bruce had blurted something about head trauma and hung up the phone.
She called him four times in the next two hours.
Bruce had abandoned his phone in his hotel room and had gone for a very long run.
When he got back to the room he had a curt text from her saying she had everything under control for now, but she would appreciate a call when he had a chance.
He meditated for four days.
He finally called her back and she explained in greater detail what had happened.
He agreed to join her there and help monitor the situation.
When Clint had woken up, Bruce thought that he had overreacted to the whole thing.
Until the two of them started bickering like teenagers.
Until Clint had haltingly explained a way he thought they could deactivate Bucky.
Until Clint said in the vaguest, most evasive, most neutral terms the thing Bruce had always suspected.
Bruce stands up abruptly and gives the whole room the blandest smile in his repertoire.
"Well, looks like you two have things under control here. I… have to leave, so- okay- glad you aren't dead, Clint. Tasha, it was n-nice to see you, but- I gotta- Okay, bye guys."
He walks quickly from the room before anyone can react.
He rounds the corner and jogs up a set of stairs, the muffled sound of Steve's voice echoing behind him.
