#about;thor

"I know you have your ways of doing things," Natasha sighs, folding her arms and speaking as softly as she can, "But the longer he's Hulked out, the more damage he's gonna do. You don't like using the lullaby, that's fine but this is an extreme situation and it's the most reliable strategy that's had the most consistent results at bringing Banner back. Do you remember how it goes? You wanna be at a crouch, if you can't do that- "

                      Faith pauses, reaches up to pinch the bridge of her nose, as unfazed by Hulk's tantrum as Natasha. Neither woman is paying much attention to the boys trying to calm the beast. She sighs and goes back to what she's doing. She's about to say something when Thor starts in with his 'sun's getting low' crap and there's a huge, angry thud behind her. She turns just enough to shout over her shoulder, "Somebody get him the hell outta here!"

Natasha's brows knit, confusion giving way to a quiet realization, and a look that says she doesns't trust where her logic is taking her, "You're not trying to bring Banner back..."

"Yeah, you're not thinkin' fourth-dimensionally, here." she's finally had enough of being questioned. Nat means well, she gets that, but Slayers don't take kindly to micromanaging and it's best she learns that sooner, rather than later, "You do that, Banner bleeds out. Hulk heals faster." she sighs, turns to Natasha, "Besides that, he's freaked, man. He's bleeding and he thinks we're gonna send him away. I'm not about that. Not just gonna use him when it's convenient, pack his green ass away the rest of the time." it's harsher than she means it, but Faith's been there. Useful when she's useful, ceases to exist when she's not. Besides, she told Hulk he could trust her. That means something.

            There’s a long, hesitant moment then Nat's brows soften and she looks from Hulk to Faith, "I hope you know what you're doing." and she's off, following Steve and Thor to the elevator. If he beats Faith to a bloody pulp, at least she was warned.

When the elevator doors close, Faith heads for Hulk with a knife, a huge needle and thread and what little bandaging she could find, "Knock it off." she sighs, sets what she brought down so she can clean the blood off his skin and find where it's coming from. Green blood --- makes it kind of hard to do this job. Her words are a little gruff, as usual, but when she touches his skin it's gentle. Smoothing her palm over his shoulder as best she can, glad he's finally sat on his ass or she'd be dwarfed by him. Still is.

 Faith finds a tender spot and Hulk grumbles, makes a face, but she's not having it, "You better recognize. Psh. Throwin' some little twinkie tantrum at me, yo. Acting like a damn baby."

        "Faith a baby." he almost grunts but he's sorry for it as soon as he says it and when he looks at Faith, she's giving him the shittiest of all shitty looks. He flinches, switches his story to, "Thor a baby."

         And that earns him a chuckle. Faith shakes her head and goes back to her task, "Yeah, that I'll give ya. More to it than that. You wanna tell me about it? Gonna hurt, Mean. Don't mean it, okay?" it's a good thing she's got super strength because that's what it takes to force the sliced edges of Hulk hide against each other so she can start to stitch him up and she sees him wince when she does. She doesn't even know if he feels it, or if he acts like he does to keep her using kid gloves, because Hulk seems to love nothing more than to be fussed over. He's a sweet kid, really. Lonely, angry. Faith over-identifies.

    He just sniffs a big sniff, pouting like a pissy gorilla, but after a beat he just shrugs and she gets it. He got his ass kicked and if he can get his ass kicked, what use is he to the Avengers? It's not like that, of course. They need him, they all know they do, but he's worried and it's hard to miss. Faith's barely done with the stitching, almost doesn't cut the needle free when Hulk responds to her question by picking her up and gently bumping their foreheads together. She smirks at him and sighs, gets her hands on his cheeks the best she can, "Yeah. I know, Big Guy. Done good today, you just can't lose your cool like that." and he doesn't nod, physically. Snorts, though, and rests his back against the wall, making sure that his hold on Faith is loose enough to let her out if she wants it, but she doesn’t budge. He sighs a deep, tired sigh and closes his eyes.

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           First light and Natasha's crouched beside Faith with a cup of coffee, nudging her awake with an elbow. Faith's groggy and her head's pounding, "Whoa, what time is it?"