Thor: Ragnarok - The Avengers: Infinity War - The Avengers: Endgame
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Tony stark gave his life so we could make something of ours.
*EDITING SPRING OF 2023*
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"Told you he'd say no," I said, "he has a family now and he won't risk losing them. I'm not sure I would to be honest."
"Still," Scott sighed, "Time works differently in the quantum realm and if we could find a way to navigate the chaos, we have a good chance of getting back what we lost."
"You heard what Tony said. He won't. He thinks it'll only end in disaster. You know Tony, once he says no, it's final." Natasha replied, aimlessly twirling a blue fountain pen between her manicured fingers.
The notebook in front of her laid abandoned on the dining table, scribbles, doodles and crossed out words and sentences brought onto the lined yellow paper from deep within her subconscious that I could barely make out from my spot in the booth. Possible solutions to our predicament, maybe, or the deepest desires and inner thoughts that bubbled to the surface during dark nights and days filled with grief and longing.
I turned towards Bruce, who sat inside a chair pulled up to the booth we were in, chowing down a salad bowl filled with scrambled eggs topped with grated cheese and sauteed bell peppers. Two large plates, one stacked with buttery pancakes and the other with a heap of freshly cooked bacon strips and hash browns stood in front of him as well. He grabbed the bottle of half-empty maple syrup and squeezed it out onto the already sickly sweet pile of pancakes, causing the glimmering substance to drip down along the sides and pool at the bottom of the plate. Taking a sip of orange juice, I shook my head, watching him gobble up a breakfast sandwich in a measly two bites before moving on to the eggs.
The green champion of Sakaar and earthly scientist I'd come to know over the last couple of years had somehow fused into one, creating an image I never thought I'd see; The Hulk, fully clothed and civilized, able to hold a conversation nothing to do with smashing big objects or killing monsters, but about time travel and gamma radiation. I could tell Steve had more trouble taking in the sight of his old friend than I did, because his eyes didn't stop scanning Bruce's face and the deep crease in his brow didn't seize, even after he was just finishing up his third cup of black coffee in fifteen minutes.
"I know, it's crazy!" Bruce said after seeing Steve frowning at him, "I'm wearing shirts now!"
"Why?" Scott asked, trailing off when Banner laughed as if people being weirded out by his appearance was a reaction he'd already grown accustomed to.
"Five years ago, we got our asses beat. It was worse for me, cause I lost twice. We," he motioned to me, "lost twice. Then, we all lost. We had a chance and we blew it. I blew it."
"Nobody blamed either of you, Bruce." Natasha said reassuringly between bites.
"I did," he mumbled, "For years I've been treating the Hulk like he's some kind of disease, something to get rid of, but then I started looking at him as the cure. Eighteen months in a gamma lab. I put the brains and the brawn together and now look at me!"
