the-calm-before-the-hulk

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

Bruce's eyebrows furrowed in concern but he welcomed the hug holding on to her and agreeing to her request. "Whatever you want." he said letting her lead the way. He felt a knot form in his stomach and he began to panic a little trying to think of the many things that could be wrong with her that she'd have to show him instead of just tell him and he didn't like any of the scenarios that flashed through his mind. He wouldn't let it get to him though, and he wouldn't let it show on his face. Janet needed him, and he needed to prove to the both of them that he could be a stabilizing unit in this relationship.

No more secrets ll Janet + Bruce

Janet listened to what he had to say, and it was so clear that she couldn’t keep this from him anymore, she didn’t have the heart to. “I’m sorry, Bruce,” she said and hugged him again, it felt like his words had been able to make her sober up a bit. “I’ll tell you what’s wrong, but can we go somewhere a bit less cold and more private first? I’ve got something to show you, you see… it’s not going to be a pretty sight, and I think that will explain more than my words will,” she said as she slowly let go of him. She was tired of pretending, tired of hiding, so she let the mask fall. Janet felt exhausted, desperate, she had no idea how she was able to keep herself from having some sort of anxiety attack at this point, and she was pretty sure that she would soon, she was keeping herself together only using willpower, and that wouldn’t hold for much longer..

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

Come closer now I'll whisper a secret A story about a girl No you don’t need to know what her name is  I wrote about her before I wish that I were the cigarettes,  Tucked down deep in her pockets She’d light me up  Let me swing from her lips like a circus show

The Summer Set - About A Girl

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

Bruce missed Janet more now then when he'd been gone from school for a month. He didn't know how that was possible, but it probably had something to with her new personality. It was one of the main reasons he was worried and was so sure something, he didn't know what or how severely, was wrong. She wasn't her cheerful self. He'd been hoping it was just a mood that would go away with time, he knew how those were; but instead of getting better Janet just appeared to stay the same if not get worse. He missed when she smiled and it reached her eyes, when she didn't appear as haunted as she did now, a shadow of who she actually is. 

"Of course I'm worried." Bruce said, "You're being distant and just a tad too self-destructive for my liking. You're a master of conversation so you deflect and change the subject before I even notice what you're doing. Please just tell me what's wrong. I want to help, I can help; but you have to tell me what's wrong." he pleaded. Even if he couldn't help he wanted to support her. He wasn't going to let her take on anything feeling like she was alone. She was a big part of what had shaped him into the person he was this past year. Their were so many times he could have gone a different route, gone rouge or held everyone else responsible for everything that had gone wrong and lashed out; but he hadn't because throughout the whole experience he'd had her. He wanted to be that person for her now.

No more secrets ll Janet + Bruce

Janet had been about to light the cigarette when she saw a figure move towards her and she soon recognized who it was. “Bruuuuce~” she said with a smile and hugged him once he was close enough, almost falling on him as she lost her balance for a second. When he asked about the cigarette, even she as drunk as she was, was able to notice the disapproval in his voice. “Was about to, so this could have been my first cigarette in about a year,” she replied and dropped the cigarette to the ground. She was still clinging to him. “What are you doing out here so late?”

After a few more moment she slowly let go of him, just seeing him seemed to have sobered her up a little bit, her balance was still gone and her speech wasn’t the best but her head wasn’t as foggy as it had been. “You look worried,” she suddenly commented and tilted her head. She wondered if it was because of her current state, or because she had been so distant lately. At this point a part of her really wanted to tell him what had been happening, it was soooo hard to keep it all from him, and she was pretty sure that she wasn’t going to be able to keep this from him for longer than maybe an hour, especially since the alcohol was making it even harder to keep secrets from him. It just felt wrong.

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

Bruce wasn't sure why he was out that night. He'd called the night early at around 7pm leaving the labs to have a late dinner and get some studying in before bed, but he hadn't been able to stay still for long behind a desk with his English book. Knowing now the danger of letting himself get anxious and feel pent up in a room was bad, and that something as simple as a walk outside was a quick and easy fix he closed his book done studying for night and headed out. It was cold, fall almost over and winter around the corner, so he'd made sure to grab his coat on the way out. 

It was during his second round of wandering the grounds that he spotted her and a smile spread across his face. It felt like he rarely got to see Janet recently. The lack of closeness he felt entirely his fault, and he was still trying to fix it. Picking up his pace he made his way over dashing over as he saw her falter in her footing. He remembered Remy's warning about how Janet had been caught drunk during school hours by him and he began to worry. He felt like he hardly knew her anymore. Catching up with her he huffed a few quick breaths white clouds of air leaving his mouth as he tried to catch his breath. 

"Janet?" he questioned eyeing her up and down. He could tell from her outfit and breath that she'd been out and he hadn't even known. "Are you smoking?" he asked the disapproval in his voice slipping through before he could stop it. He held out an arm for her to grab on to her disorientation and lack of lucidness easily enough for him to recognize. He felt a knot form in his chest and he wasn't sure why. 

No more secrets ll Janet + Bruce

It was freezing outside, but Janet didn’t really notice it. The alcohol in her blood was keeping her body from reacting properly to the cold. She was wearing a short red dress, black tights, high heels and a black jacket. At this point she couldn’t let any of the skin on her arms and legs show as the marks were now almost solid black and she had noticed that those same stripes had started to appear on her stomach too.

"Fuck…" she mumbled as she stumbled in her own legs, doing her best to keep her balance. She had spend almost the whole night partying and would have been there longer if it wasn’t for the fact that the people at the club and figured she had been drinking enough and sent her back home. With a annoyed huff she stopped and looked around, she wasn’t far from the science building yet she felt very disoriented and was unsure where she should go. As she stood there she took out a cigarette from her pocket, she hadn’t taken up smoking, yet, but it was so tempting with all the bad things that had been happening.

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

Bruce was at ease with Jane. They'd only had a brief run in before but he'd left more then impressed with the other afterwords. He laughed watching her play with the beagle. "So what brings you out this way?" Bruce asked curious, "Most people don't leave campus unless they have something they're looking for or trying to avoid." Jane was a nice girl and he wouldn't mind getting to know her outside the lab. She was a unique character.

Gone To the Dogs || Bruce + Jane

Jane watched as Bruce played with the puppies, smiling. When she felt the nudge and tug of her skirt, she looked down to see a beagle. And then she lost herself; he reminded her of Coco. She picked him up, scrunching her nose and making faces at him. “Who’s the good boy now?” She set him down, only to tugged by her skirt and his insistent whining. She followed him down to the cage area, hoping Bruce wouldn’t notice her presence here. He dropped to her knees, molly coddling any and every dog that came closer to her. She was giggling and laughing with them, her worries and troubles forgotten.

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

Bruce smiled watching her play with the dog, "Well they're certainly easier to please then people at the very least." he thought briefly of Janet and his concerns about her, "and easier to tell when something's wrong with them." He threw a toy watching as the dog he'd been playing with went to retrieve it. "I'm Bruce by the way."

Gone To the Dogs || Bruce + Maria

Maria smiled and bent down to pet one of the dogs besides the boy. “I’m not really a peoples person either.” She wasn’t really a dog person either but he was right, sometimes they were easier to deal with. “These dogs are so cute. I like this little guy right here.” She said playing with a brown and white little one.

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

Bruce smiled eyes bright and nodding his head as he listened to Jane go on. It was nice to know he wasn't the only one who rambled. "Not a strong proponent of Loop Quantum Gravity then I take it. It's more testable sure, but.." he made a face like he was struggling to find the right words, "too abstract for my tastes, which is saying something coming from a physicist, any sub-par scientists knows not to believe loop quantum gravity better unites quantum mechanics with general relativity then string theory. Though your allele idea has some merit, I might be thinking too big, an analysis of allele-specific RNA might be what I need to do. I'm it's not genetic obviously like the X-gene, so I hadn't thought of looking at it from that angle before." he paused turning to flash Jane a grin. "I think we're going to get along great." He rarely met people who could make him re-think his ongoing theories. It was refreshing and nice.

Caution: Physicists at Work || Jane + Bruce

"That sounds interesting. Maybe a certain strand is absorbing the radiation? Or possibly there is some allele that is can receive without dying?" She nodded, deep in thought until he phrased his question. "Oh, I was just trying to prove the existence of a certain bridge from Norse Mythology. With the help of the Super String Theory, and basic physical calculations, it is possible to prove the Norse Mythology. Or at least some of it." She shrugged, "It’s mainly theoretical, but if I could get the composition right.." She drifted off, mid sentence as she thought slowly, her pace slowing down. She shook her head, "I’m sorry, were you saying something else?" She looked apologetic, smiling a little. 

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

"Well see." Bruce said making a mental note to remind himself to at least make the final deadlines for applications since he'd missed early admissions. "They both have excellent physics programs, so does MIT but the biology program at Harvard is a bit better. Just keeping all my options open for now I guess. I very much like the sound of Dr.Banner though." he smiled.

"Got any plans for later?" he asked, "I've got some microbial cultures I wanted to go over in the lab before the end of the day, but we should do something soon, if I sit in the lab too long I'll get antsy. That of course is based on the assumption I'll even noticed how much time has gone by." he said as an after thought. "You should probably just come get me and tell me what we're doing. Yes that would probably work out better."

Back To The Start || Bruce + Darcy

Darcy’s thoughts flashed through the deal she and Tony had made with SHIELD in regards to Bruce’s return, but she pushed that back.  There was no way she was letting that secret out.  That burden belonged to Tony and her alone.  ”The cage is one of the biggest ‘ick’ points with me,” she told him.  ”I get they were worried, but to lock you in a cage on the auditorium stage? It ticked me off.”

She listened as Bruce talked.  Her smile broke out.  ”Oh, I had no doubt you were going to go on with school,” she told him.  ”I expect to hear people calling you ‘Dr. Banner’ one of these days.”  Her nose wrinkled.  ”California is a long way away.  I vote Harvard.”  Then she sighed.  ”Unless Cal-Tech is better for whatever it is you want to do.  Then I guess I’ll have to surrender you to Cali.”

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

A grin spread across his face and shook his head. "No need to apologize I'm just a bit jumpy today I guess." He patted the ground next to him a small mutt of a dog making it's way towards him. Bruce had his suspicions that the dogs here were rescued from missions agents went on, proving maybe some SHIELD agents at least had some sort of heart. "I'm not much of a people person, dogs are just easier to deal with some days." he said honestly scratching the mutt pup behind the ears as the dog wagged his tail.

Gone To the Dogs || Bruce + Maria

Maria was messing around, trying to get more of the layout around the town when she happened to come along to a pet store. “What the hell? Why have a pet store in a town run by a secret organization who doesn’t allow pets on the campus, which is the whole reason why the town is here?” She shook her head and walked in anyways. The girl bent down to pet some of the pets in the cages. She turned around and saw someone who looked like a student so she approached him. Maria saw that he was playing with the dogs so she laughed. He turned around. “Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you. You just looked like you were having fun with the dogs.”

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

Bruce held Holden in his arms, looking up as the other neared. He flashed an awkward but happy smile unable to stay in a bad mood surrounded by the puppies. "Hey you." he said placing the dog down, another noticing his arms were free quickly running over to hog his attention. "Fancy meeting each other outside the labs for once." he laughed scratching the pup behind the ears. "Want to help me survive the puppy apocalypse? Their's at least a half dozen of them and only one of me." he joked nodding his head towards an empty spot in the pen if she wanted to join. 

Gone To the Dogs || Bruce + Jane

Jane heard of the pet store, and using her oh so amazing sense of direction, found the 5 minute walk in 15 minutes. Oh well, someday soon she’ll find her way around town too. But not today.

She was mainly going through a ‘miss my family’ phase - she actually pined for Coco. She missed his furriness and his hyperactivity that beagles were infamous for. She walked in, trying to be as inconspicuously quiet as possible. But when she saw the dogs, she was completely at awe.

She smiled at the lady at the counter, and soon enough she struck a conversation, that mainly revolved around animals. And that’s when she noticed the familiar body structure. She tilted her head, turning to the lady again as her brain went into overdrive before finally putting a name to the figure.   

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

About a month now. Mostly trying to keep a low profile, not that that's hard as much as I keep myself in the lab.

Iron man lives again! | Science Bros

Pinch me, I think I might be dreaming. [laughs] Bruce!

Bro. Hey. Good to see you too, man. And yeah I thought it was best to get out and live a little. How long have you been out and about?

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

"Gene modification. Worst cases of gamma radiation poisoning I've ever seen." Bruce said with a shrug. "By all accounts the test subjects should be dead, I'm trying to figure out why they aren't. Long term goal is trying to find a way to reverse the radiation sickness but at this point in time I'm too limited by the science of our time to accurately come up with a viable cure. What about you?" he asked curious about her own projects she might be working on. It was rare he was able to talk shop with anyone.

Caution: Physicists at Work || Jane + Bruce

She nodded. "The stars emit their own vibes, their own radiation. It is like the basic unit of everything." She sighed, looking at him. "Radiation effect on humans? Are we talking cell alteration or complete gene modification?" She was curious, looking at him as her brain worked on second gear.

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

Bruce thought back on his own past experiments realizing she was right. "If those explosions are intentional or not remains to be seen." he said with a laugh. "I dabbled a bit into astronomy myself this summer for a bit. My studies are focused on radiation for the time being, but the whole cosmic rays/space radiation research didn't help much in my experiments since it's mainly to do with radiation's effects on humans." he said with a shrug, "Was nice to look at the stars for a bit though. Has a way of making everything seem so small by comparison." 

Caution: Physicists at Work || Jane + Bruce

"Curious minds cause quite a lot of explosions. I was just testing this theory from Pre Astronomy class, finding a link to Physics.." She rambled on about find the composition of another galaxy and whatnot, but then she stopped herself short. "I’m sorry, it’s all very interesting. And very..untidy.." She gave him his papers back, grinning sheepishly at her dirty left hand. "What was your experiment about?"

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

"I know the feeling. I think I've developed Stockholm syndrome. Part of me appreciates that they took my back into school after the incident this summer and the recent attack, and then a part of me remembers they're big on the secrets part of being a secret organization and o yeah, I was kind of in a cage for bit there..." Bruce shook his head. 

Bruce thought for a minute before answering, "I'm not sure. I know SHIELD will be watching no matter what I do, and I do want to continue school and go to get at least some sort of degree." he shrugged, "Probably end up in Cal Tech or Harvard, at least here's to hopping. Harvard's just a bit closer to school here then California though.." he said thoughtfully, "Who knows."

Back To The Start || Bruce + Darcy

"Is it okay to admit that idea makes me nervous?" she asked with a wry smile.  "I mean - I adore Uncle Red and all, but me working for SHIELD…I don’t know."  Darcy wasn’t sure about the whole idea.  The people she trusted most seemed evenly divided on their opinions of SHIELD, and she had to admit to having two different views herself.  "I’m kind of hoping on hanging on here until Tony fully takes over SI and then hopping on that particular wagon."

She started pouting, only partially joking.  ”I don’t want to think about that.  You and Tony and Kyle…too many people are going to graduate and go off while I’ve still got a couple of years here.”  Then she sighed and gave him a smile.  ”But…you need to be getting out of here and rewriting the science textbooks, so I guess I’ll just have to deal.”  Her eyes brightened in curiosity.  ”What are you going to do after graduation?”

[the-calm-before-the-hulk]

Gone To the Dogs || Bruce + OPEN

It was silly and ridiculous and if anyone asked he'd denying it till his dying breath, but Bruce loved puppies. You couldn't be angry or stressed or upset when you were playing with the adorable four pawed furry animals, and the other guy seemed to find their presence enjoyable. It was this love that brought him to the pet store in town where he'd slowly grown a weird sort of friendship with the owner. They weren't allowed pets on campus, and this was an excellent substitute. He played and cleaned up and got to walk the dogs whenever he stopped by, which was slowly turning into a twice or so times a week thing for him.

Waving to Jill the nice elder lady working behind the counter he went over to a small pit area where they kept all the puppies. Looking into the bin he grabbed a small schnauzer that was off in the corner by himself, who he'd affectionately named Holden, after the character in one of his favorite books. Bruce DID NOT make cooing noises at the puppy, and he DEFINITELY DID NOT talk to it like it was a baby, except that maybe that's exactly what he did. He played around with it in a training center they had in the store filled with toys by the shop window. They were caught in an intense game of tug and war before Bruce finally let Holden win, laughing as the small puppy ran around yipping and barking in joy.

He'd never been allowed a pet growing up, and now he wasn't sure he should be allowed to have one. Scratching Holden behind the ear he got up to get a few of the other puppies out of the pit area, soon enough five rambunctious little dogs were running circles around him as he began dividing his time between them. It wasn't until he heard the laugh that he realized their was anyone around but him and the dogs.