This chapter is dedictated to TheDreamerLady, who really wanted to read Bruce's POV. Since it fell naturally into the story line (and I did it in Chapter 3), voila! I hope you enjoy!

Living in the same building and working in a lab with Tony Stark was going to be a challenge to every shred of self control Bruce had gained over the past few years. It hadn't been too bad in the few days between the New York battle, and the rescue of Jane and Darcy. But as soon as Tony had seen Hulk's reaction to getting tased…he was relentless.

He was also very evil.

Bruce discovered this fact when they finally arrived back at Stark Tower. He slid out of the car behind Tony and Steve, and watched the others emerging from two other cars. His stomach did a weird little fluttery thing when he saw Darcy follow Jane Foster out of the third car.

Tony was watching for his reaction, with a twisted, gleeful expression on his face. He was a child sometimes. Bruce tried to remember why he had accepted Tony's offer to live in the Tower, but then remembered he had nowhere else to go, and he was tired of running. He wanted a place to call his own, and people to call his family and friends. He hadn't been lying to the rest of the team aboard the helicarrier when he'd admitted to the attempt to end it all. Emotional and physical isolation was a heavy weight, aging him before his time. He had only wanted it to end.

Of course, it didn't work out. The Other Guy was there to protect Bruce when needed, even from himself. It was a hell of his own making, and Bruce didn't want to be stuck in it anymore. This group could handle the Other Guy. It was the non-Avengers, the non-S.H.I.E.L.D agents that he was worried about. They didn't have training to handle him. Jane and Darcy. Pepper and Happy Hogan. They were in danger by being around him.

He raised a judgmental eyebrow. "Really Tony? You invited her here?"

The billionaire smirked. "Dr. Foster is moving in, so Miss Lewis goes where Jane does."

Bruce sighed heavily. "You're playing with fire, Tony. Don't encourage her. She lacks self preservation instincts."

Tony Stark's grin was hard. "It's the best way to live, Bruce. Too many people exist in fear of everything. To live, truly live, you have to let go of the fear."

Sometimes, he forgot that Tony Stark had gone through hell before inventing the Iron Man suit. He had been tortured and nearly killed. It didn't make him any easier to live with.

Bruce shook his head. "We have differing opinions on that, Tony. Just…just don't help her, okay? I'll stay away from her, and she'll find someone safer to be interested in."

Tony raised his eyebrows, but said nothing. Bruce wasn't optimistic enough to think that he would cease and desist.

Darcy Lewis was persistent. Bruce had to give her that. Several times, he avoided her only by a few feet, slipping into an empty lab, or hiding in a closet. That one was embarrassing when one of the lab assistants found him there. For a second, as the heat of shame warmed him, he tried to think of an excuse. Then he thought 'what the hell?' and used the Other Guy.

"I need absolute quiet," he growled at the lab assistant. "You should come back later."

The somewhat terrified expression of the young man as he nodded hastily, shut the door, and fled, only made Bruce feel guilty. But what was he supposed to do? The very luscious and very young Darcy Lewis was a temptation that he needed to not dangle in front of his own face. She was too rare and too precious to become a casualty of the Other Guy.

Tony, under threat of having the Other Guy unleashed on him, did not give up Bruce's hiding places, even though he really wanted to. That didn't stop him from questioning Darcy to see if she'd tracked down where Bruce was hiding out yet. Bruce could hear the irritation in Darcy's voice when she shouted at Tony during those occasions.

Still, it was embarrassing. Bruce felt like an awkward teenager; hiding from a girl. When Tony came to him, with an idea that required his input along with Dr. Foster's, Bruce latched on eagerly. Anything to distract him from the hiding.

It required more time in the lab, but Bruce had never really minded that, and it was practically second nature to Jane and Tony to spend long hours working. Working directly with Tony had its ups and downs. On one hand, the billionaire was brilliant and driven. On the other hand, he was snarky, intrusive, and irritating. Bruce looked at it as an exercise in self control, ignoring the prods, the pokes, and the objects that came flying at him at odd times.

Tony even employed his creations to annoy Bruce, to test him. The general fetch-all robot Tony affectionately called Dummy had a habit of dumping things on Bruce. Tony insisted, with completely false sincerity, that he had not programmed Dummy to prank/annoy Bruce, but his grin every time it happened said otherwise.

The stretched too tight Dr. Foster was a challenge to work with. She was more of what Bruce was used to: an uptight, focused scientist. But he'd come to appreciate Tony Stark's ways, even if the billionaire did drive him nuts. Dr. Foster's expressions clearly indicated that she disapproved of Tony's ways, and she didn't seem to realize that it only made Tony heckle her even more. After all, Tony Stark was an equal opportunity heckler.

Several times, when Tony would slyly ask about Dr. Foster's assistant, the woman would expend a little energy complaining about Darcy's focus being elsewhere, and how she could be positively annoying. She would usually continue with a long laundry list of complaints about her former intern, thinking that Bruce shared her opinion.

He wondered what Dr. Foster would think if she knew that she had come far closer to unleashing the Other Guy than Tony had. He was trying very strongly to deny to himself that he found Darcy Lewis interesting and appealing, and to hear someone else malign her set his gut churning. The fact that Dr. Foster seemed to expect everyone else to fall in with her thoughts had him seeing a little green.

It made Bruce a little sad, and he wondered if Darcy knew how much Jane Foster was annoyed by her presence, and apparently everything she did. He wouldn't be the one to tell the vibrant young woman. He had the feeling that Darcy wasn't as strong or carefree as she liked to portray.

In a move unlike himself, Bruce subtly encouraged Tony to continue to heckle Dr. Foster. It gave him a small little bit of pleasure to see the overstretched woman get so annoyed and flustered.

Tony delighted in the reaction he got from Jane Foster, and pushed more everyday. He was particularly obnoxious one night when they were working late (again), and Dr. Foster finally moved to the far end of the lab, near the doors.

"Dr. Foster, what's wrong?" Tony called. "Have a hot date with Point Break?"

"The air is a little clearer at this end," Jane replied acerbically.

It was probably Bruce's fault, what happened next, because he was encouraging Tony to not pay attention to what he was doing so he could continue to harass Thor's woman. Bruce watched it happen in slow motion, as the billionaire's hand dropped lower than it should have, and two things that should not be touching met.

The explosion was huge. Tony realized it as soon as it happened, and threw his arms up to shield himself, but he was at ground zero, and was flung away like a rag doll. Bruce himself had a brief moment to think about diving for cover, but then his world went green.

Bruce sometimes had flashes of memory of what happened when the Other Guy came out. They had never been pleasant, not really. Although he did have a memory of totally flattening Loki after his failed alien invasion, and another brief flash of overwhelming relief when Tony Stark opened his eyes after falling from the sky. Those two ranked as his most enjoyable Other Guy memories to date.

When the green haze receded (he was sitting naked on a very cold floor), Bruce could remember a warm, gentle hand pressed to his (the Other Guy's) cheek, and that same hand running through his hair. He turned his head a little woozily to see Darcy sprawled on the floor, head cupped in Steve Rogers' hands. When she tried to sit up, Bruce went with his first instinct, and offered a hand to her. He wasn't the person she was expecting to see offering her a hand up, but her brilliant smile warmed him (even despite the chilled floor).

"You're naked," she blurted in greeting.

He wanted to laugh, but shrugged instead. "That happens." Then, he just couldn't help himself, because she was so close, and so pretty, and she smelled so nice: "Are you looking?"

She looked like she was fighting herself as she admitted that she was trying not to. Her eyes were so inviting, so welcoming, so not scared of him. It brought a lump to his throat. When she scolded him for avoiding her, those eyes were still pulling him in and giving him a safe haven. Then, reality intruded as he realized his backside was really very cold and he plaintively asked for clothes.

Darcy abruptly lost control of her mouth controls and couldn't seem to stop her glance down, but Bruce was saved from eminent embarrassment by a blanket tossed across his lap by a smirking Hawkeye. Darcy indignantly scolded the archer, who rather blandly admitted he was trying to help with her impulse control problems. Bruce used the opportunity to squirm around a little and pull the blanket underneath him without exposing himself. Ah…relief from the aching cold. He chuckled with Darcy over the situation, and listened with resignation (not hope, truly, not hope) as she told him that the Other Guy adored her, and she wouldn't rest until he did too. Bruce hoped his expression didn't give away that he was already more than halfway there. How could he not like her?

The moment was so surreal that Bruce had forgotten why the Other Guy was out, until Steve Rogers asked about Tony. The explosion! Tony had been right on top of it! He had another flash of memory – holding Tony's limp form and roaring out his pain that his friend was hurt. He accepted a hand up from Barton, and paused to look down at Darcy.

"I'll…I'll probably talk to you sometime in the near future, Ms. Lewis." There was no way he could continue to avoid this vibrant woman (girl). She was a balm to his rather empty soul, and Bruce didn't think he could continue being that empty.

She scolded him again, telling him that he was to call her Darcy, and Bruce could only nod. Then, duty called, and he walked away with Rogers and one of the medical team to brief them on what had happened.

Bruce explained what had happened as best as he could, leaving out the part that the explosion had been caused because Tony had been focused on heckling Dr. Foster more than on what he'd been doing. He'd been equally responsible for that lapse of attention, but it wouldn't happen again. He had to remember that being around Tony was like babysitting a child. While the billionaire could mostly take care of himself, he had to be watched, because anything could and would happen. Bruce wondered, again, how the amazing Pepper Potts put up with Tony.

The debrief with Agent Sitwell of S.H.I.E.L.D, temporarily filling the position left vacant by Phil Coulson's death, was humiliating. S.H.I.E.L.D was concerned that it had been an attack, rather than a lab accident, since it involved two Avengers and the girlfriend of another. Bruce answered as evasively as he could, but reassured the agent that it had only been an accident. When released, he quietly whispered to Jarvis that Tony should be given the same story to share. Then, the fact that he was sneaking half truths around a secret government agency made him bite back a smile.

What Steve told him, about Darcy's role in calming the Other Guy, completely blew his mind. Bruce was sure it had been a fluke the first time, when the Other Guy had snatched her up and carried her off. But this? Not only did she rather boldly walk up to him after Thor and Rogers had already been sent flying down the corridor, but she talked him into giving up his Tony rag-doll, and then talked him back to himself! He hadn't even thought that was possible. That hinted at control, something Bruce steadfastly refused to believe the Other Guy had. He was a mindless rage monster. Mindless rage monsters couldn't voluntarily stop raging.

But then again, during and since the Chitauri invasion, the Other Guy had been more focused, an aimed weapon rather than a random explosion. During missions (they'd only had two since the one that had brought them together), the Other Guy apparently took suggestions from Rogers. That was impressive.

The hope, quickly suppressed, that control was finally a possibility made Bruce a little giddy. He felt lighter, closer to his actual age rather than the age his weighted soul gave to him. It was that feeling that probably prompted him to seek out Darcy in her rooms. He told himself, as he was walking through the hallways, that he just wanted to let her know that Tony would be okay. At worst, there would be some possible scarring on his arms, which had taken the brunt of the blast. Since she had been directly involved in Tony receiving medical care, Bruce thought it was only fair to reassure her, and praise her for her quick thinking.

His mind was a little chaotic when he arrived at her door, trying to decide how he would present his visit. He wasn't here to see her. Not really. He was just sharing news about Tony. His presence didn't mean that he wanted to see her. Not at all. He wasn't hoping for her absolute zest for life to rub off on him. He was only sharing information. That was all.

At this rate, Bruce wouldn't really be surprised if he sprouted zits and his voice began breaking, because he really felt like an awkward teenager again. This was ridiculous! He was a grown man, a successful scientist (who had been on the run for years due to his 'condition'), and part of a superhero team that had saved the world. One very young (very beautiful) recent college graduate should not be able to make him feel like this.

He'd sworn off man/woman feelings when Betty Ross moved on. A long distance relationship with someone she couldn't even legally contact and never got to see had worn her down, and she'd finally given up. He'd secretly checked in on her a year and a half before the whole Chitauri nightmare, to find that she'd married, and had a newborn. The terrible emotional pain had led him to attempt to end it all, only to discover that the Other Guy would not allow it. Bruce had lost his mind for a month or two, slowly resigned himself to enduring, and decided that the emptiness would always be there.

It wasn't hard to stick to his resolution. There was no point in being interested in anyone when there was no possibility. How did one bring up the topic of the Other Guy when trying to date? 'Oh by the way, when I get too excited or angry or hurt, I turn into a giant green rage monster. You okay with that?' It just wasn't happening, so Bruce shut down that portion of himself.

Then he woke up with Darcy sitting on him, knowing all about his green rage problem, and instead of being horrified, instead of running, she was oddly excited by it. She'd been saucy, flirty, and determined to engage him, despite what could happen. Even Natasha, who was beautiful in a very deadly sort of way, had been very cautious and a little fearful of him when she'd come to 'ask' him to help find the Tesseract. While Bruce thought that caution and fear were by far the wiser options, it had still hurt.

Even after avoiding her for several weeks, Darcy hadn't been discouraged. She'd scolded him, been a little naughty, and accepting, as always.

Still, he was only sharing information about Tony.

He finally raised his hand to knock on her door, figuring that if he stood in front of it any longer, Jarvis might decide to notify Darcy of his presence. The AI had been created by Tony Stark after all, and Bruce wasn't quite sure if he trusted Jarvis yet.

He heard a muffled exclamation from inside, and briefly wondered if maybe he should have waited until the following day, during working hours, to update the young woman. His hand decided against that, and knocked again, just before the door was yanked open.

"Yeah?" Darcy asked, a little impatiently.

Bruce had been thinking about what he wanted to say, so it was already coming out of his mouth. "Uh hi. I wanted to let you know that Tony will be fine and…" He trailed off in astonishment, eyes going impossibly wide, and a flush hitting his cheeks. His first thought was that she was naked, because the only thing his stunned mind could register was very shapely, very bare, legs. The toenails were painted in a riot of colors, like she'd tried multiple bottles to see which color looked best.

His eyes slowly trailed up those legs, and Bruce nearly choked, nearly fled, when he realized she wasn't actually naked, but her panties (yellow smiley face) were exposed. Instead, he cracked a grin at the absurdity of those panties, and his traitor eyes continued their slow slide up to the hem of her shirt, noticing the very recent food stains. When his eyes followed the trail of food stain up to the swell of her chest, Bruce's mouth went suddenly very dry. Darcy was…unrestrained. He swallowed hard, hoping that the heat blooming in his face was not a blush, and finally met her eyes.

She was amused, lips quirked in a smile, and those blue eyes sparkling. "Well hey there, Dr. Moppy. Like what you see? Are you here to take me up on my offer from when we first met, since I saw you naked again?"

Bruce stumbled through his excuse as to why he was there, trying not to sound like the awkward teenager he felt like. Darcy didn't look like she bought it, leaning against the doorframe and assuring him that she had 'skills' when it came to manipulating the Other Guy.

He tried to warn her, but maybe his heart wasn't really in it, because he couldn't deny the facts. She talked the Other Guy down. She literally…wrangled…the Other Guy. Okay, maybe that thought came from watching too many reality shows since moving in, but Bruce didn't know what else to think about it. From all accounts, his other self was completely wrapped around her finger. How did that happen?

Darcy scoffed at his lame attempt to point out the Other Guy's unpredictability (attacking Thor). "He punched Thor. Thor can take it. So can Steve, from what I've seen. They're fine, just jealous and grumpy that they couldn't talk Big Green into giving up Tony. Stop avoiding me."

He made one more halfhearted effort to dissuade her, which had Darcy glaring at him. When she commanded him to not avoid her, he gave in to defeat and agreed that he would not. If that defeat felt more like a victory, Bruce buried that reaction deep within, ducked his head, and walked away. That was the safest course of action. For Darcy.

He wasn't expecting her to show up in his lab a few days later with takeout lunch.

"Uh…hello?"

Darcy shook her head. "You make it sound like a question. Hello Bruce. How are you today?" She dropped several brown takeout bags on the table in front of him. Bruce had to admit, the smell was very enticing.

"Um…fine?"

Darcy sighed. "Again, it's a question? Let's try once more. How are you today, Bruce?"

The quiet snicker from near the door could only be Tony, and Bruce's mouth quirked. He was going to thump on the billionaire when he got the chance. Or maybe prod him with sharp, pointy objects. "I'm fine, Darcy," he said decisively. "How are you?"

She flashed a smile. "I'm just peachy, thanks! So I asked Jarvis about your favorite takeout meals, and had an assortment delivered."

"Oh." Bruce blinked, trying to figure out why she had done that. Had he requested lunch? He didn't always eat lunch. It was easy to get distracted when working. Especially if working with Tony. "Is there a reason you did that?"

Darcy hung her head. "Doc, you're killing me here. Do you remember me telling you that I wasn't giving up until you adored me?"

Bruce couldn't stop the small smile from escaping his control. "I remember that, yes." He took his glasses off and slid them into his shirt pocket. "So, what? You figure that feeding me would be a good start?"

She looked back up at him with a wry smile. "You know the saying. But I thought you probably wouldn't go out to lunch with me, at least not yet, so I brought lunch to you."

It would really be a better idea if she didn't keep pursuing this. Being around him was dangerous.

"It smells really good," he heard himself offer. "I…um…I have a little office in the back, with a desk. That's where I usually eat. We could…we could go back there."

His whole face went hot when he heard the not-so quiet 'score!' from near the door. Bruce idly wondered if the Other Guy could be convinced to thump Iron Man the next time they worked together.

But the huge, beaming smile that Darcy gave him was completely worth it. "You're a sly one, Dr. Moppy. All avoidance tactics and now suddenly, you're agreeable. I'm not complaining though. Not at all." She picked up the takeout bags and waited expectantly.

Feeling a little self-conscious, Bruce stood and led the way. He was aware of the curious stares of the few lab assistants assigned to him, and couldn't stop himself from wondering what they were thinking. It probably wasn't good. Here he was, the lecherous old man, having lunch with the young woman who probably was young enough to be his daughter.

But the food did smell really good, and he didn't have it in him to disappoint her when she looked so happy that he agreed. And it would be really nice to have lunch with someone who wasn't a S.H.I.E.L.D agent or super hero.

His desk was a mess as always, so Bruce just swept the papers to one side. Darcy plopped the bags of food down on the clear spot and began unpacking them. Oh yeah. Bruce was salivating a little, but he wasn't sure if that was due to the food, or the cute little shake of the rump Darcy was doing as she set the food out. Was she dancing?

"What do you call that?" he had to ask.

Darcy gave another little tail shake, and looked up at him with a wink. "It's my 'the food will taste great' dance. Did you ever have bad takeout? It ruins the whole day. So I do my little begging dance, and it's all good."

Bruce let out a small chuff of laughter. "Do you really think that's why the food is good?"

"I don't leave anything to chance, Dr. Banner. I haven't had bad takeout since I started doing it, so I'm not going to start. It's like baseball players and their superstitions. I do this instead of wearing the same underwear."

Bruce couldn't stop his mouth. "The smiley face ones?"

Darcy squealed in delight, clapping her hands together. "Oh you naughty person, you!"

Bruce wanted to staple his mouth shut. How could he have said that? He was totally being a lech right now. He was…he was being Tony!

"Is it possible that deficient mouth filters is a condition that's contagious?" he asked, sitting carefully in his chair.

Darcy pulled up the only other chair in the office, but didn't sit down. She went over to the door and pulled it shut, glaring out at two lab assistants who were leaning back to peek in.

The click of the door latching was very loud in Bruce's ears, along with the increasing pounding of his heart. "Um…I'm not sure that closing the door while we're in here together is a good idea."

Darcy flopped into the other chair, thankfully on the other side of his desk, and grinned at him. "Afraid I'll have my wicked way with you?"

Bruce blinked. "Well…yes. Kind of. I mean, you're very persistent about this, even though it isn't really safe to spend a lot of time in my company. And I'm a lot older than you, and I could hurt you." He wanted to shrink into a little ball after that little bit of eloquence. Now he was even talking like an awkward teenager.

Darcy stared at him, a small satisfied little smile playing around her lips. "Relax Bruce," she said finally. "I want to have my wicked way with this food right now. Later on, after we've been dating for awhile, we'll totally have wicked lunch booty in here. But right now, we'll just get the rumor mill started."

Bruce was aware that his mouth was hanging open a little bit, and his pants had grown a little tight at the mention of wicked lunch booty in his office. That hadn't happened in so long that he really couldn't think of anything to say, and he was very afraid that she was unraveling his control. And he could only hope that things would calm down if he ate something, because he wasn't going to stand up in this condition. Darcy and his lab assistants would enjoy it too much.

Darcy cocked her head at him. "You okay, Doc?"

He shook his head. "I think you're actually worse then Tony."

"Nah. Just a different set of skills. Eat up, Bruce." She twirled a plastic fork between her fingers, then dug in.

Bruce let out a shaky sigh, picked up his own fork, and began scooping food up. He needed something to concentrate on other than the dangerous little minx sitting across from him.

They fell into a companionable silence. It had been so long since Bruce had eaten with someone normal, and it felt really nice. It helped fill some of the emptiness inside him.

Darcy ate more food than he was used to seeing lush women eat, and finally put her fork down with an almost pornographic moan. "Oh my god that was good." He watched her suck sauce off of two of her fingers with a loud smacking noise, and almost growled as his pants grew even tighter.

"You're a tease," he accused in a rough voice, finishing off his mouthful of food and carefully setting his fork down.

Darcy met his eyes. He felt like he could drown in them, because they accepted all of him. She reached out and patted his arm. "I'm only a tease, Bruce, if I don't plan to go through with the things that I hint at. That's clearly not the case here." She gave him a saucy wink.

She was not helping his problem. Bruce swallowed hard. "Thanks for clearing that up for me." He ducked his head, and then looked back up. "Thank you, for this. It's been a really long time since I had a normal lunch with a regular person. Well, you're not really regular. You're unique. But you're not an agent, or an Avenger, and it's just…it was really nice."

She nodded. "You got it, Bruce. I have to warn you, I'll probably make a habit of this." She glanced down at the table, folding her hands together and portraying a lack of confidence in her body language that Bruce did not expect. "You can feel free to initiate lunch too, you know. You don't have to be alone Bruce." She looked back up with a grin. "Or with Tony all the time."

He nodded slowly. "I…I appreciate the company, Darcy."

That seemed to be a signal to her. She stood, and began gathering the leftover food, bagging it up and presenting it to him. "Here. I know you scientist/genius types. You get so wrapped up in what you're doing that you forget to eat. Take this with you so you have something."

He wanted to protest, but she had it pegged perfectly. It would be nice to have the leftovers. "I…that's very thoughtful. I can't say you're wrong."

Darcy snorted softly. "I work for Jane. She has a Pop Tart problem. As in it's one of the only foods she will eat on her own. It will make me feel better to know that you have a few good meals there."

"Thank you," he said softly.

She winked. "Just part of my campaign, Doc Moppy. I better get back before Jane skins me, but I'll see you around."

He nodded. "Okay. Thanks again."

"Sure." Darcy angled a pointed glance down at his lower half, hidden behind the desk. "Not gonna walk me out, Bruce?"

He felt like even his ears were blushing. "Ah…I think I should stay here for now."

Darcy's grin told him she suspected exactly what the problem was. "Then my job for today is done. See you, Bruce."

"Bye," he called softly as she sashayed over to the door and opened it.

"That was the best ever, Bruce," she remarked loudly as she headed for the lab doors. "Thanks for a fantastic lunch!"

Bruce groaned as heads appeared in his line of sight, wanting to see if they could catch him in a compromising position, maybe. Tony was one of them, and he was beaming.

"You coming out of there sometime today?" the billionaire asked.

Bruce mentally tested the tightness of his pants, and decided not yet. "Eventually," he assured. He winced when Tony cackled in glee.

It was going to be a long afternoon.