Such Sweet Nothing

“JARVIS bring up Dr. Munroe’s and Dr. Banner’s files.” I leaned forward on Tony’s workspace table in the living room.

“Yes, sir.” A large screen popped up in front of Tony, Bruce, and I. One half was the work I shared with Tony the other day; the other half was Bruce’s work in gamma radiation and classified files from New Mexico.

“Where should we start?” Tony turned to look at me and then at Bruce.

“I think we should start testing Bruce when it happens.” I zoomed in on one of Bruce’s files.

“See if his DNA changes when he does?” Tony looked back at me.

“Yeah, see if a chemical reaction takes place in his brain. I know it has to do with adrenaline and anger?” I looked over at Bruce for a moment.

“Right.” Tony brought up my research on gamma radiation.

“And we should try to replicate on cells?” I nodded at Tony’s question.

“Yes.” I saw Bruce shift uncomfortably from side to side at that.

“I should do that part.” Tony and I both looked over at him.

“Should we really expose you to more gamma rays? Wouldn’t that set the big guy off?” As Tony asked this a video of Bruce in New York started looping in the background.

“I can do it, it’s what I used to do in New Mexico.” I offered as Bruce crossed his arms across his chest.

“You’d have to use a very high-“

“Bruce, I’m doing it.” I closed the screen in front of us with a swipe of my hand.

“No use in arguing with her, she will just win anyways. Keep your dignity, Banner.” Tony was trying to lighten the mood in his joking tone.

“Excuse me for a moment.” Bruce said as he headed down the hallway.

“All right there tiger.” Tony turned his whole body to face me.

“What?” I snapped.

“I feel like there is something you aren’t telling me.” I gripped the table in front of me.

“He came to talk to me earlier and I don’t know. I just wish I could let it all go but I just can’t.” Tony studied my face for a while.

“There is something else, what happened?” I sighed as I stared up at the ceiling.

“Remember how you told me awhile back about how he tried to kill himself and found out he couldn’t?” He nodded once as his eyes got a steely look to them.

“Well, I saw it happen. He doesn’t remember I saw it happen because he turned into the Hulk. It was a couple months after he left, I went looking for him and found him.” I couldn’t stop the tears welling up in the corners of my eyes as I did my best to keep them from falling.

“I was just so mad at him and I still am and he is just so fucking stubborn.” He placed both of his hands on the upper parts of my arms and gripped me.

“I saw him put the gun to his mouth and I started running at him and I was screaming his name but he pulled the trigger. He fell backwards-“ My voice started to crack.

“I thought he-“ I pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes.

“I thought I saw him die. I have to be mad at him because the only other option is to be so upset that I can’t function.” I felt Tony pull me into his chest and wrap his arms around me.

“So do you guys want to get started tomorrow?” Tony and I looked over his shoulder at Bruce as he wiped his glasses before putting them on his face. He stopped just short of walking back into the living room as he saw us.

“Yeah, we’ll get started tomorrow.” Tony answered as I pulled away from him and faced the other way.

“I’m going to head down to the lab now to start setting up cultures. I’ll see you two tomorrow.” I didn’t have to wait long for the elevator as I got in and went down to the tenth floor. I swiped my badge to get into the lab and had to sit down at my desk to collect myself. I still felt like I was going to cry and it felt like if I thought about that moment any longer I was going to run back upstairs and start yelling at Bruce for putting me through all of this shit. I wasn’t playing the martyr card and I whole-heartedly agree Bruce has been dealt an extremely tough hand. I just hate that we wasted so many years not being friends only to end up here, right where we should have been so long ago.

“Tony sent me up here, are you okay?” Pepper’s worried voice met my ears before she could sit down.

“I’m fine. I just-“ I didn’t finish my sentence because I knew she understood.

“Well, if you’re up for it Steve is coming for dinner tonight, I know he would really like to see you.” I loved that Pepper could change the subject to have me not harp on my sadness.

“Yeah, I’d like to see the Cap too.” I tried to let my lips form into a smile.

“Hey, things will get better. I know you’re not ready to forgive him just yet, but he really is trying. You’re all he talks about, really.” Pepper smiled at me and I returned it.

“I miss him.” I nodded slowly.

“Well, he’s here now and you, Tony, and Bruce will figure this all out.” I was moving things around on my desk as a way to busy my hands.

“Yeah, I hope so. I’m still not sure what he wants to happen. I don’t know that we can make the Hulk go away.” She just stared at me silently.

“Why not?” I guess Tony hadn’t really talked to her about all of my research.

“I think it was set in his DNA a long time ago when his dad was doing experiments. To suppress the Hulk completely seems impossible. It would be like trying to change your eye color gene, it’s a part of you. It is encoded.” I stood up and threw on my lab coat.

“Between the three of you I’m sure you’ll come up with a way to help him.” She stood up as well and straightened out her jacket.

“Yeah.” I agreed quietly.

“So, we’ll see you upstairs for dinner?” I nodded and gave my cousin a smile.

“Good, try not to run yourself ragged, okay?” I only nodded again as she opened the lab door and let herself out. I began setting up the experiments I wanted to run by placing cells into petri dishes that we collected from Bruce. I would run the actual gamma testing in a few days once I allowed the cells to grow in the dishes and study if anything out of the ordinary happened. I was beginning to think we would have to get our hands on Bruce’s father’s work to replicate what I think happened to him.

After a couple of hours of prepping in the lab I glanced over at the clock and realized dinner would be served in the Potts/Stark penthouse not too long from now. I placed my petri dishes into the incubator and set the temperature and time to allow the cells to live and grow.

“Dr. Munroe, Ms. Potts has requested I inform you that they are waiting for your arrival on the top floor.” I smiled as I took my lab coat off and hung it off the back of my chair.

“Thanks JARVIS.”

“You’re welcome Dr. Munroe.” I once again found myself in the elevator as I slid my badge to go to the penthouse. The doors opened and I could smell something cooking in the kitchen.

“Doc!” I only caught a glimpse of Steve’s face before my own was pressed against his chest in a hug. His arms wrapped around me tightly as he twisted slightly from side to side with me still in his arms.

“Cap!” I responded into his shirt with a laugh. He allowed me to pull back slightly as he looked down at me with a smile.

“How’ve you been?” I asked as he placed his hands on my shoulders.

“Good, good. Just been hanging around the old neighborhood. How about you? You’re lookin’ a little tired there.” His hands slipped off my shoulders and hit his sides.

“I’m hanging in there.” He gestured for me to go ahead of him and to step into the living room. Bruce and Tony were sitting on the couch.

“How come I don’t get a greeting like that?” Tony sat up a little straighter as I took my seat next to Bruce and Steve.

“Because I actually like him.” Tony scoffed at me as he leaned back into the couch and flipped through the channels on the large, flat screen.

“Tony just got done telling me that you and Dr. Banner have worked together in the past.” Steve turned his attention to me and then looked towards Bruce who was to my left.

“Yes, we did.” I answered.

“You can call him Bruce, Cap.” Tony spoke up, as I was very aware of Bruce shifting in his seat.

“Right, right.” Steve said with a smile. I let my gaze fall over to Bruce who I caught staring at me. He quickly looked down at his hands in his lap and leaned back into the seat.

“So you’re working on suppressing the other guy?” I could tell that was aimed at Bruce.

“Something like that, we aren’t really sure how we’re going about the testing or what exactly we are going to accomplish.” It was at that moment in time I became aware that I was sitting in between the super soldier and the man who failed to become the super soldier.

“Does Pepper need any help in the kitchen?” Tony shook his head at me.

“Are you sure?” He only shook his head again as he landed on a channel, finally.

“Okay then.” I sat back into the sofa and folded my arms across my chest.

“Oh! I finally got my new bike.” I turned my attention, excitedly, to Steve.

“When do I get to see it? We have to go riding soon.” I looked over at Tony.

“Do we have time to go to the garage?” It took him a moment to look at me with a blank expression.

“What?” I sighed.

“Tell Pepper we’ll be right back.” I stood up as Steve followed my lead.

“Wait, you have a motorcycle?” Tony stood up and blocked our way.

“Yeah, I bought it last week. I could’ve sworn I told you.” Everything last week seemed to come back to me in a blur.

“I have no recollection of that at all, does Pepper know?” I groaned at his tone.

“Yes, she knows. Can we go now? We’ll be right back.”

“You want to go check it out?” Tony leaned to the side to look behind me at Bruce.

“Yeah, actually.” I turned my head to watch as he stood up.

“If that’s okay?” He slid his hands into his pockets.

“Why wouldn’t it be okay?” Tony answered the question that was in no way directed at him.

“Pepper we’re going on a group trip, we’ll be right back!” I heard some pots clang together and then Pepper made an appearance.

“Where are you going?” She placed her hands on her hips as Tony ran a hand through his hair. I was very aware of the man behind me.

“To go check out Doc’s motorcycle.” Steve answered while flashing his perfectly straight smile.

“Oh, okay. Just don’t take too long.” She headed back into the kitchen with no second glance to the group of us.

“Well, that was easy.” Tony muttered as we all got into the elevator.

“What is with the nickname?” Bruce asked from my left side.

“Well she is a doctor but I only started calling her that after we watched Back to the Future.” Steve answered.

“You mean after she forced you to watch Back to the Future.” Tony always had to put his two cents in somewhere.

“What can I say? I really love that movie, but you already knew that.” I looked at Bruce out of the corner of my eye. It took him a moment to register I was talking to him in a casual manner. The smile exploded onto his face.

“I wonder what gave it away, was it watching it about one hundred times when we would hang out, or it might’ve been your plans for a flux capacitor?” Bruce was poking fun at a notebook he discovered from my youth with all of my time traveling plans. I caught Tony looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

“What? I was young and it was an awesome movie. Don’t judge me.” There was laughter from the three guys in the elevator. It felt nice to finally say something to Bruce that didn’t sound angry or brought up the past in a bad way.

“Ladies first.” Steve guided me out of the elevator as it stopped in Tony’s personal garage space. We turned the corner and I heard Steve let out a long, low whistle.

“She’s a beauty.” Tony said as Steve placed a hand on the seat.

“Thank you, thank you. It’s a classic battle green.” I was grinning from ear to ear as I looked at my dream motorcycle come to life.

“We should start a motorcycle gang.” I laughed at Tony’s suggestion.

“Yeah, because that’s what the world needs; three of the avengers in a motorcycle gang.” Bruce placed a hand on the throttle and looked at me with a smile.

“You don’t even have a motorcycle, Tony.” Bruce said as Tony stood next to Steve.

“I can get a plethora of motorcycles by sundown.” I rolled my eyes and sighed.

“You can get a plethora of anything by sundown, I’m sure.” He shrugged his shoulders as he motioned for us to head back up for dinner.

“I’m Tony Stark, it’s what I do.” I only glanced at Bruce who returned my slight look of annoyance and for a moment I thought everything could go back to normal.