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May. 9th, 2014 09:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nnyBruce chokes himself aware, the cold nipping at his exposed flesh, biting hard at his side where he's sprawled on the concrete. He flinches at a sudden movement; the orange blanket that's tossed over him is one of the thin waffled kind that they give to victims, to patients, to the injured and in shock, so he's reasonably certain there's someone more deserving. There always is, after. He hauls it around himself anyway, looks up, and he's not sure who he was expecting.
"No one dead," the Winter Soldier says, tone flat as ever, "seventeen injured. Mostly Hydra."
He jogs away before Bruce can make any sort of a reply, which is probably for the best. Irrational as it is, he has to work hard not to hate him a little for the 'mostly'.
*
It's late when he emerges from the lab that night - because after there are always people, and that's - that doesn't so much work, for him. The tower is dimly lit, the lights flaring slightly before him and dimming behind, somewhere between warning and welcome. It glances off the edges of things, anyway, lessens the unpredictability, guides him towards the kitchen area and the ever-present coffee.
The world outside the window is a man-made galaxy. Maybe it makes Tony feel big and important - although the better Bruce knows him, the more he doubts it - but it manages to make Bruce feel small, and he's grateful for that. Not small enough yet to fit into his bedroom, hence the coffee, but he's working his way down to it inch by slow inch.
He's not sure how long he stands there, but when he turns to leave he catches the faintest glint from the corner of his eye.
The couches are sinfully comfortable, of course, but he wouldn't have thought the man ever relaxed enough to sleep. Maybe there's some truth to that, all of him straight lines without a hint of softness. There's a throw on the back of the couch, and it's not warm in the room; Bruce turns away without touching it, doesn't look at the tight lines on Bucky's face, speeds his steps back to the lab.
(In the morning Bucky's nowhere to be seen and everyone else is laughing at Clint, whose reflexes had only just saved him from a black eye when he'd brushed past the couch.
Care doesn't look the same on Bruce as it does on other people).
"No one dead," the Winter Soldier says, tone flat as ever, "seventeen injured. Mostly Hydra."
He jogs away before Bruce can make any sort of a reply, which is probably for the best. Irrational as it is, he has to work hard not to hate him a little for the 'mostly'.
*
It's late when he emerges from the lab that night - because after there are always people, and that's - that doesn't so much work, for him. The tower is dimly lit, the lights flaring slightly before him and dimming behind, somewhere between warning and welcome. It glances off the edges of things, anyway, lessens the unpredictability, guides him towards the kitchen area and the ever-present coffee.
The world outside the window is a man-made galaxy. Maybe it makes Tony feel big and important - although the better Bruce knows him, the more he doubts it - but it manages to make Bruce feel small, and he's grateful for that. Not small enough yet to fit into his bedroom, hence the coffee, but he's working his way down to it inch by slow inch.
He's not sure how long he stands there, but when he turns to leave he catches the faintest glint from the corner of his eye.
The couches are sinfully comfortable, of course, but he wouldn't have thought the man ever relaxed enough to sleep. Maybe there's some truth to that, all of him straight lines without a hint of softness. There's a throw on the back of the couch, and it's not warm in the room; Bruce turns away without touching it, doesn't look at the tight lines on Bucky's face, speeds his steps back to the lab.
(In the morning Bucky's nowhere to be seen and everyone else is laughing at Clint, whose reflexes had only just saved him from a black eye when he'd brushed past the couch.
Care doesn't look the same on Bruce as it does on other people).
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Date: 2014-05-09 10:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-10 02:13 am (UTC)