incrediblebanner | (no subject)

(no subject)

Waking up as herself again after was always hard on her. Worse when she was on the run on her own, waking up alone in unfamiliar places with scraps of cloth that used to be her clothes. She prayed not to wake up and find someone's blood on her during those times.

Now, it's... well, nowhere near pleasant. She'd solved the clothing problem, however, with the help of Reed Richards, and the two of them managed to put together a material that would stretch reasonably well with the Hulk and shrink enough for her afterwards. She still lost part of her wardrobe to the Hulk when she hadn't expected a change, but most of the time, they have enough warning.

She doesn't even wake up alone that often anymore. Usually at least one Avenger goes on retrieve Banner duty whenever the Hulk feels the need to wander off before shrinking back down. She wakes up with someone nearby more often than not.

There's a certain predictability to what will happen when she does wake up. Regardless of how long it takes, where it happens, or what kind of state she's in, the first question is always the same.

She blinks her eyes open - god, she feels like she's been hit by a truck - and finds Steve. "Did I hurt anyone?"

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Steve's exhausted.

He nearly - nearly - longs for the days when fighting aliens from space was a surprise, was an unusual occurrence, was something weird. These days, he's fought everything from aliens, augmented humans, people he thought were friends, and robots.

Yup. Metal men, and women, in this last attack. Also metal insects, that scuttled along walls and leapt onto people. Some of them could fly.

Apparently the scientist who'd controlled them was insane, but Steve could've made that judgement even without knowing anything about psychology.

Steve had told the others to head back to the Tower. There were various assorted injuries amongst them, and while he was scuffed and bruised, he was in the best shape. Besides, it wasn't like he minded sitting with Bryce. He'd found her in a park, slumped uncomfortably under a tree. He'd gently tugged her into a more comfortable position, and sat with her, and waited.

He manages not to drop off, though it's hard when you're ninety-five, bruised, and exhausted. His lips curve into a smile when her eyes open. "No, not a single person, though I don't think the Wendy's nearby will ever be the same."

Not Bryce's fault. She'd crashed into a horde of these automatons - automata? Tony'd know - to redirect them from two police officers, and she'd carried them forward into the Wendy's. It'd been well and truly evacuated first. No one had been hurt.

You know your life is screwed up when having caused significant structural damage is good news. Bryce nods to show she heard - and if destroying someone's physical restaurant is quietly added to her running list of things the Hulk has ruined, well, she doesn't feel the need to inform anyone.

Bryce pulls herself up into more of a sitting position, not quite feeling the urge to push herself into going beyond that yet. Although the transformation between the Hulk and herself erases most injuries, the process by which it happens is painful and draining enough on its own.

Once she's more-or-less upright, she turns her attention properly to Steve. "Are you all right?"

She still looks upset, even though she's relaxed a little bit. Steve adds it to the picture of her that he has in his mind, the one that's based purely on what he's seen from her. He has a similar picture for all the Avengers. He's far from perfect at it, but he needs to keep track of how each one's doing in general, and specific needs, wants, vulnerabilities.

Bryce is one of the toughest, and one of the most hurt. It worries him.

She pulls herself up, and he offers an arm around her, for her to lean against him if she'd like.

"I've been better," he admits wryly. "But it's nothing that won't heal in a day or so. Mostly just tired. Not easy fighting for hours when you're nearly a hundred."

She ducks her head and lets out a quiet laugh at that. "I'm sorry we're keeping you from your customary nap. I won't mind if you want to go have it now - I know how cranky elders can get about that."

The tone is joking, but the underlying sentiment is sincere - he doesn't have to keep sitting with her if he'd rather go rest up and heal.

Steve likes her laugh. He wishes he could get it out of her more often.

He snorts affectionately at her teasing. "I'll get someone to put me out in the garden later with a blanket over my knees so I can sleep. I'm fine for now. How are you doing? The physical transformation's pretty hard on you."

Bryce relaxes very slightly against his arm, like she's not confident she's really welcome. "I'm fine." The answer is automatic and not really considerate of how she actually feels, but there's no need for anyone to worry about her. Truthfully, everything aches and she's not too sure she could stand right now, but it will pass.

There's a little relaxation. Not much. He moves a little closer, tucks her very gently against him. They're teammates, and friends. She should lean on him if she wants to.

"Uh huh. Well, we can take our time here. It's a beautiful day and the others know how to contact us if they need us."

She's not quite ready to just let the sentiment rest where it is. "Are you sure? I really don't need to have you sit with me when you have better things to do."

"I can't see anything better to do from here," he says stoutly, and he means it. She's never quite managed to accept that perhaps people might enjoy spending time with her, and besides. She's part of his team. He wants someone to be with her while she's recovering from what has to be a hell of a transformation.

After a moment, Bryce tentatively rests her head against him. It is fairly nice out, even if she can't quite appreciate it normally. She lets herself be quiet for a little while, uncertain what to say. It's just one of those surreal moments that have worked their way into her life while she wasn't paying attention - sitting around in the park with Captain America.

She'd almost be ready to fall asleep again, if she didn't also happen to be acutely aware of all the little and not-so-little aches and pains that come with recklessly breaking several laws of physics. "I'm not much company right now."

He smiles when she leans her head gently against him, and briefly touches his cheek to her hair.

There aren't many people around, which is good. By now, most know to give the Avengers some privacy. To allow them to have some time to just be people. So they've had one or two looks from people passing by, but mostly there's no one for a quarter mile or so.

"I'm not here because I expect you to be sparkling entertainment. I'm not exactly big on bon mots - bons mot? - myself anyway." He chuckles, low and brief. "When you're ready, we can head back, but there's no hurry."

Despite her misgivings about her ability to fall asleep again just yet, something in her loosens at his words. What starts out as just letting her eyes shut briefly turns into proper sleep, the kind that's much more restful than the exhausted unconsciousness she gets immediately after a transformation.

She drifts off with a little sigh, and he grins when he realises. He resettles himself, moving an inch or two this way and that, and reaches for his bottle of water with his free hand.

He takes a long drink, and just enjoys the peacefulness of sitting there for a while. They won. They won. Sure, it was never really in doubt (he doesn't let himself doubt) but it's still a relief.

After another thirty minutes or so, he sticks his water back in his pocket, and very very very carefully swings Bryce up into his arms.

Bryce doesn't quite wake up when he picks her up, but she does come close enough to consciousness to mumble something wordless and tuck her head against his chest.

Usually, after a transformation, she can be out for 12 hours at a time. But her body's screaming at her too hard for something to eat for her to come even close to that right now, so she wakes up a couple hours later, only somewhat surprised to find herself in her room at the Tower. It's happened to her before, and it's certainly one of the most pleasant places she's woken up.

She's more surprised to see that someone's been waiting for her. "Steve?"

He's had to carry a few of his teammates, and he's been carried in turn.

This kind of thing is definitely his preference. Where the person in his arms isn't injured, just extremely tired, and so he can let all his protectiveness come into play without having to worry. He gets Bryce home to the Tower easily enough, and settles her into her bed, pulling a blanket up over her.

Steve knows he could head to his room. She'll know where she is when she wakes, and he knows her well enough to know she doesn't need urgent medical attention.

He grabs a few things from his room, and comes back anyway. It's just nicer to wake up from something like that with someone there waiting for you. When he hears her voice, he's in the easy chair not far from her bed, newspaper in hand, halfway through a giant sub with a second in a bag for her.

"Morning - evening. Whatever."

"Whatever," Bryce agrees as she sits up and stretches out her arms and back. She's still tired, but it's nicer, a pleasant feeling of sleepiness instead of overwhelming exhaustion.

Her hands are shaking a little when she lowers them, and she frowns at them slightly. Low blood sugar, probably.

"Thank you."

A huge unselfconscious grin at her. "Hey, it's okay. The Hulk - the other girl, uh, whatever you prefer - saved my butt more than once during the fight. Least I can do."

She's shaky, so he hastily puts down what he's holding, and passes her the sub. He put it together in the communal kitchen and wrapped it up safely, and he's hoping that he remembered what she likes on her sandwiches.

(His own is ham on multigrain with cheese and a little of basically every single vegetable he could find.)

At this point, she honestly wouldn't care if the sandwich he made her contains exclusively things she normally hates. It's food and it's right there. She gets a few ecstatic bites in before she takes long enough of a break to talk. "Thank you," she says again. "It's hard to balance my metabolism after... you know."

She's got that look in her eyes. That look that says she's purely happy, even if it's just for a few seconds before other things crash back in on her. Steve likes that look.

He nods, and chews for a while on his own mouthful. He also likes that they don't have to talk all the time. Silences are okay. He swallows. "My metabolism shot way up after the serum, and the amount of mass and power I gained was only a fraction of yours."

She nods thoughtfully. "Mine is normal most of the time, it's just after transformation that it goes into overdrive. Having something high in protein and calories beforehand usually helps."

That look in her eyes dims a little - as easily as she takes these things in stride these days, getting to this point had required a balancing act that she had been nowhere near prepared for in the beginning.

"Ah, that's something I'll keep in mind." Good information to have. Not that he's expected to take care of everything all of them need to eat before a battle - not that they always have that much warning of a battle, even. But he likes to quietly give people the resources that help a little, here and there, where he can. With Stark and SHIELD they have more than enough money to do it, after all.

She starts looking a little more worn, and he reaches out to tentatively take her free hand, if she'll allow it.

She shrugs - she honestly hadn't expected him to do much of anything with the information. It's her problem to deal with, which means it's her responsibility.

When he offers his hand, she looks briefly confused, like she can't quite figure out why he wants to hold her hand, but she lets him take it, regardless.

He laces their fingers together, and squeezes very gently. "Bryce..."

Not really expecting her to leap up and say 'yes, of course!' when he says this, but it's still one of the things that needs saying. If he says it often enough, maybe it'll help. (Not like he doesn't have his own issues.)

"...you're part of a team. Which means we get the benefit of your skills, but we also help you. You're also entitled to help. Same as every other member of the team."

She frowns slightly, still confused as to why he feels the need to bring this up now. "I'm fine, Steve. I don't think I need help with anything right now."

A moment, and then:

"Although I do appreciate you bringing me to the Tower and making me something to eat," she adds, quickly but sincerely.

Edited (I edit for good reasons and not just because a tiny thing bugged me shh.) 2014-11-20 05:52 (UTC)

There are times when Natasha in particular yells at him for not being direct about his feelings, for not needing to hide, and then there are times when Steve thinks why not, when every single other person in the team does it. But he's philosophical about it. It's not like he expects Bryce to instantly jump up and say 'yes, you're right, and you magically made it so I can trust people!'

That never happens for him when people try to make him confront his issues, either.

He grins, runs his thumb gently over her fingers. "You're welcome, really. You feel ready to sleep again yet? I'll head off after you drop off."

"Sure." She hadn't quite planned on getting back to sleep just yet, honestly, but if he's contented himself that she's okay and doesn't need any more monitoring, she isn't going to keep him.

"Call me if you need anything. Seriously."

She looks exhausted, though perhaps not ready to sleep immediately. He doesn't want to intrude, though.

"Sure."

She won't, obviously, unless there's an emergency of some sort, but it's kind of him to offer. "Thank you, Steve."

He finishes the last bite of his sandwich, and sighs a little internally. Well, he's a raging hypocrite anyway. Not like he calls people every time he has a nightmare, or can't sleep, or needs to go out just to be outside. He can't blame her for not wanting to lean on him that much.

He gives her a smile from the door. "Talk to you soon."

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