Bruce Banner

“I’ve been all right,” Sam shrugged. He was still unsettled by recent events in Harlem, but that was something he wasn’t sure he could discuss with the other avengers, especially given the recent information he’d received regarding SHIELD.

“Recently been reading about the alien artifacts they dug up. Pretty interesting, huh? You think they might send them to your lab at some point, invite you to poke around them? Can’t imagine there’s many other people who’re qualified for that kind of work.”

“Interesting, sure,” Bruce smiles wryly. “I’ve been trying to stay away from interesting; it always manages to find me in the end.  I don’t know if I’m quite as high up on their list as I used to be.” 

    Though who ‘they’ really were, he was still waiting to find out. 

“It was…”

“But that’s not why we’re here! We’re here because I was showing you the way to a decent coffee shop, right?”

“Right.”   Bruce inclines his head, offers a small smile.  Some things weren’t meant to be dwelled on.     “Lead the way.” 

The look Dani returned the man wasn’t quite offended, but it was certainly incredulous.

“Excuse me?”

“…If what?”

Bruce blinks - had he been talking?    Likely, and he looks at the woman. He might as well ask her: 

          “What do you look for in protection?” 

“Ha.” The thought of Bruce turning green and ripping his head off for expressing interest in his baby cousin… hadn’t been a serious one. Not only did he expect Bruce in better control than that, but Clint didn’t think he was that protective and overbearing type. He also liked to think there was enough of a trust and respect between them… and between Bruce and Jenn…

"I asked because I didn’t want there to be any awkwardness, and now, awkwardness, because you’re a good person and I don’t know how to take sentimental compliments. Thanks. I mean, I don’t want to make too big a deal out of it. We had a good time together though, the introductions were fun, not awkward. Had a good time, then went out on the town. Not on the town on the town, but like… a patrol.”

Bringing it up at all was an invitation for awkwardness, but Bruce smiles as Clint works his way through what he’s trying to say. 

“That sounds... very romantic for you both,” he says, trying to bite back the tease that’s playing across his lips. Bruce had known Jen twenty years ago, and this older person ( who, for the one highly questionable choice she’d made, still seemed to have people’s best interests at heart ) was mostly a mystery to him. 

“I know that, and I know you know that… out of respect for you though, I didn’t want you to be blindsided. If it happens.”

It was less awkward than he had anticipated, so far. Even if Bruce’s opinion was irrelevant, Clint cared to hear it… that was a poor way of phrasing it. Good thing he didn’t say that aloud. “I mean we went out for drinks, but I wouldn’t call that a date per se. We just met, were feeling each other out. She’s fun to be around, fun to talk to. Cute…”

It’s touching, the string of words and the sentiment behind them; Bruce smiles at him. After all that had happened, it was nice to feel appreciated, and even nicer to feel and be treated like any normal person would be. “Thanks.   And I’ll make sure the other guy keeps it in mind too.”

    ( but he’s not normal, and the light jest is mostly for his own benefit )

“Jen’s a good person.  There aren’t a lot of those in this world.”  And the good ones had to stick with the good ones, lest they be overrun and go extinct. 

“Just a bit.”

“Not exactly. I was in Genosha for a while. Which was fine! Actually, it was more than fine! Until, well, you know.”

       “Mmm.”   He did know. 

While Sam had little to no idea what Bruce was working on - and would probably remain clueless even if the other man tried - he could easily recognize someone a clearly exhausted individual.

“Just wondering if you wanna step out for a minute, grab a cup of coffee,” Sam shrugged, pushing his hands into his pockets. “I’m kind of craving a scone, too. You look like you could use both. Doesn’t science say your brain works better after you eat?”

       “Yeah,” he says gratefully, putting down the pen in his hand, “Thanks.” 

He takes a step before he realizes that he’s still holding a clipboard, and he looks around the scattered lab for a secure place to put it before he gives up and just tosses it onto the chair. Bruce takes off his glasses and rubs at his eyes for a moment - when he looks up, he smiles wearily. 

            “Scones? There’s a place down the street.” 

Shuri shrugs.

“Well, they link it up to the Kimoyo beads system. It learns everything there is to know about Wakanda in a matter of seconds. Then you can tailor the AI to its specific role in the society. Wait, have you been doing it sequentially? It has to be random access. Otherwise it would take hours.”

There is merit in what she’s saying, but the old geezer in Bruce can’t help but be skeptical. 

 “But if I were to ask Jennifer out on a proper date sometime, how would you feel about it?”

Never mind the fact Clint felt those feelings would be irrelevant, he was still curious. They were still teammates, friends. It would be rude to blindside him, wouldn’t it? Potentially dangerous.

       This is one of those situations Bruce never imagined he’d be in - but then again, Clint had a knack for instigating them. 

         “I... would say that she was an adult. And that she can make her own decisions...”                - better decisions than his own, likely, though her recent revelations to him made him question that. 

“You good, man? Look like you could maybe use a cup of coffee. Or ten cups of coffee. Maybe a solid gallon, if we’re being honest.”

brucegbanner: 

          Sam’s speaking to him, but it takes a moment for the words to cycle in his brain and mean something - 

“No. I know thousands of scientists who can do that in Wakanda.”

Bruce takes a pause, digesting the claim.