Work Text:
Bruce comes to with a moan. The agonising pain is nothing new to him, nor is the nausea, the weakness, or the feeling that his skin is a few sizes too small and was imposed on him by use of violence. He is used to all the physical symptoms of the transformation - what really gets to him is the complete lack of memories.
Sometimes he has a vague idea of what went down during the time the Hulk takes over and his body is left with a gut feeling of satisfaction or distress. But today there is only blankness, combined with the worry gnawing in his gut: who did the Hulk hurt this time?
He sits up slowly, groaning at the way his head pounds with the change in altitude. Half of his body is covered in a heap of rubble. A look around him confirms that he is inside, or more precisely, in the upper floor of a building at the outskirts of the city. At least it seems like it was uninhabited -maybe still under construction, judging by the lack of furniture and the raw cement walls.
Bruce extricates himself from pebbles and metal rods and shakily makes it to his feet, just to immediately step into a small pile of glass shards. There’s dried blood on the ground already, more than could reasonably stem from the cuts on his feet. Bruce swallows at the thought of whom it might belong to.
Guilt rises from his gut, bringing bile with it. He is too tired to fight the sickness and supports himself at a door frame, bent over, waiting for his stomach to bring up whatever it was the Hulk gulped down this time. Vomiting hurts and it doesn’t bring any relief to the nausea. When he finishes, his whole body is shaking and he almost feels dizzy.
His earpiece inevitably got lost in the transformation, as did his clothes. Bruce knows that his team members would have already come for him if they were anywhere nearby. But since nobody is there, all he can do is make his way down the damaged staircase, stopping every now and then to catch his breath and let the black spots in his vision subside.
He is on a mud path leading away from the ruins when he hears the familiar hum of the Iron Man suit.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” Tony calls out upon landing. “Kid, I found him!” he says into his comm.
Bruce doesn’t have the energy to answer. He covers himself reflexively, knowing full well that it only makes him look more pathetic. He should probably stop walking, but his feet haven’t gotten the message yet, and he nearly bumps into Tony when they drag on.
“Hey, hey, big guy,” Tony soothes. “Rough transformation?”
Bruce nods tiredly. He rests his forehead against Tony’s shoulder for a second when his head starts swimming. His legs suddenly feel weak beneath him. He could fall asleep right here, he thinks, just close his eyes and let the darkness take over for a while. It’s a very tempting idea.
“Bruce? You good?” There’s a hint of concern in Tony’s voice when he pushes him away at arm’s length to give him a once-over. “You’re bleeding,” he assesses.
“Yeah, cut my feet…” Bruce mumbles.
“No, you’re really hurt.” Tony points at Bruce’s thigh. Through a haze of grey, Bruce makes out a deep cut on the side of his leg that is bleeding sluggishly. Suddenly the lightheadedness makes a lot more sense.
“Oh,” he murmurs. “Didn’t notice.”
“How did you not notice that?”
“Just…it hurts, everywhere,” he admits quietly, bracing himself for the other man’s response. Most people seem to think that Bruce deserves to be in pain as some sort of compensation for the Hulk’s actions, and Bruce largely agrees with them. Either that or they feel sorry for him, which is even worse. But when he looks at Tony, there’s neither judgement nor pity. Instead, the engineer seems indignant, almost angry.
“Sorry,” Bruce mutters, not really sure what he is apologising for. He lets himself slide down to sit on the ground, suddenly feeling too weak to keep standing.
“No. None of that is your fault. Just…I never knew, Bruce, you should have told me.” Tony lays a hand on his shoulder and Bruce tries not to flinch. He knows that physical contact is something Tony uses to express sympathy, but his skin is still incredibly sensitive. After a moment, however, the touch starts to feel surprisingly soothing.
“Did anyone get hurt?” Bruce doesn’t specify what he means, but Tony understands immediately. His expression softens.
“No casualties. Green Bean did a lot of smashing and took off towards the forest as soon as we were done.”
“Okay.” Bruce breathes a sigh of relief. “How, how’s the team? Did we -”
“We can debrief later,” Tony interrupts resolutely. “First, we need to get you patched up.” He addresses his earpiece. “Pete, you planning to join us sometime?”
“Here, I’m here,” comes a breathless reply from behind them.
Peter swings down from a tree. His face is red and sweaty, his suit dirty, but he seems unhurt. “Oh my god, Dr. Banner, the Hulk was amazing! He saved me from that bad guy like -” Peter makes a couple of hectic movements with his hands that are too quick for Bruce to follow, accompanied by sounds of “whoosh” and “whoom”.
“Yeah, you can recount that later,” Tony cuts him off. “Did you bring the equipment?”
“Yes,” Peter answers, his expression sobering. He produces a first aid kit and, gratefully, a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. Then he seems to look at Bruce clearly for the first time. “You’re hurt!” he exclaims.
“I- I’m okay, kid.” Bruce is far from that, but the focused attention of two of his team members makes him more than uncomfortable.
“I highly doubt that. But we’ll make sure you will be,” Tony declares. “Thank the kid - he knew something was up even before I located you. Made me leave the clean-up midway and fly out to find you.”
“That really wasn’t necessary,” Bruce says quietly. “I would have gotten to you eventually.”
Tony just huffs.
Bruce lets the other man bandage his leg provisionally and help him get dressed, then focuses on not passing out while Tony and Peter support him to the main road. The pain in his skin has dialed down and turned into an uncomfortable crawling, but that means that he can now clearly feel his injured leg throbbing in rhythm with his heartbeat.
There’s a bus stop at the side of the road. Tony and Peter deposit Bruce on the bench.
“The medic will be here any minute,” Tony declares. “In the meantime, you should rehydrate.”
He pulls out a soft drink from somewhere in his armour and passes it to Bruce, who turns it over in his hands. He knows that his body desperately needs fluids and calories, as the Hulk has burned through all of them, but the nausea is still overwhelming. Puking in front of Peter is something he really doesn’t want to be added to his mile-long list of embarrassing experiences.
“Bruce, that wasn’t for show.” Tony nods at the drink.
“Yeah, okay.” Bruce opens the bottle and takes a small sip, swallowing hard. For a moment, he feels like he is going to be sick again. He sits up straighter, taking a couple of shallow breaths, until his stomach settles a little.
They wait for the medic, Bruce slowly sipping the drink. Tony keeps shifting his weight between his feet, worriedly glancing at the reddening bandage around Bruce’s leg every few seconds. Peter is standing in the corner, apparently unsure about how to behave. It’s a weird situation. Typically, Bruce is the least injured after fights, despite the pain and weakness the transformation leaves him in. Often enough, it’s him looking after Tony, the kid, or other reckless team members. He isn’t used to being in the role of the patient.
Finally, a medical van pulls up and a young nurse steps out. He is wearing a SHIELD vest, but Tony eyes him warily. “Your identification?” he asks.
“H-Here.” The man holds out a badge, looking between Tony, who examines it with a frown, and Bruce, who is holding his leg, trying not to let the pain show too clearly.
“I‘ve never seen you before. Since when do you work here?” Tony interrogates.
“It’s okay, Tony, I know him,” Bruce reassures. “He attended my training seminar last week. What was your name? Roger?”
“R-Robert, Sir.” The nurse gives a nervous smile, then opens the door for Tony and Peter to help Bruce inside and sit him down on a cot, his leg elevated. Tony leaves his position next to Bruce only reluctantly.
Robert disinfects the wound after examining it. Bruce swallows nervously when he pulls out a needle. He is pretty sure that he lacks the energy for another transformation at the moment, but the Hulk is still active right below his consciousness and he can’t stop worrying what would happen to the poor medic if he transforms right now. Not to think of Peter, who is still watching with curiosity…
“Actually,” Bruce speaks up, “You know, there’s no need for this. I’m a doctor, I’ll do it myself. If you all would, just, give me a few minutes…”
Tony’s eyebrows rise up to his hairline and Bruce can practically feel the sarcastic comment forming in the other man’s mind. But Peter is quicker to speak up.
“You know, Dr. Banner, I wanted to ask for your help. I have this physics deadline in a few days? It’s, um, a project about the concept of time dilation in special relativity.”
Baffled, Bruce raises his head to look at him. “That’s what you’re thinking about now?”
“Just remembered,” Peter shrugs. “I thought I’d ask, now that you’re here. You’re always so busy…”
Bruce shakes his head in disbelief, wincing when it increases the headache, but then launches into an explanation of the subject with Peter nodding along enthusiastically. When Bruce’s brain finally catches on to the barely concealed grin on Tony’s face, the nurse is finishing the last of the stitches.
“Wait, what was that?” Bruce starts. He sits up a little straighter and looks at Peter accusingly “Did you just - ?”
Peter only smiles innocently.
“He doesn’t like stitches, either,” Tony explains, playfully poking Peter in the side. “Don’t know about you people, but I am starving. Gonna get some food - be back in five. FRIDAY, where’s the nearest pizza chain?” he addresses his AI while stepping outside.
It occurs to Bruce then that this is the second time today Peter realised something he reasonably shouldn’t. “How did you even know I was injured?” he asks.
“Oh, that’s just my spidey senses,” the kid replies. “They always go off when something happens to the family.”
With that, Peter follows Tony outside, leaving Bruce blinking the sudden wetness from his eyes.