Story: "Coming Around" (Part 2 of 14)
Apr. 10th, 2013 12:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis story is a sequel to "Love Is for Children," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," and "Touching Moments," and "Splash."
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Bruce Banner, Hulk.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Inferences of past child/domestic abuse. Current environment is safe.
Summary: Phil shows Bruce the cute pictures of the team helping Hulk clean up after the bilgesnipe fight. Bruce finds the whole idea more confusing than pleasing.
Notes: Teamwork. Friendship. Flangst. Hurt/comfort. Dysfunctional relationship dynamics. Trust issues. Safety and security. ALL THE FEELS. Non-sexual touching and intimacy. Personal growth. Family of choice.
Begin with Part 1. Skip to Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14.
"Coming Around" Part 2
"I have photographic evidence to the contrary, Bruce. You may not have seen the gentle side of Hulk, but the rest of us have," Phil said. "He asked us to share some things with you, since he has trouble doing so himself." Hulk's request made Phil suspect that his emotional intelligence ranked a lot higher than most people gave him credit for, and Bruce's negative descriptions only made matters worse. "Tony and I promised to take care of this for the two of you."
"He asked you?" Bruce said. He gave Phil a dubious look. Something about this clearly bothered him, but Phil couldn't tell what.
"Quite nicely," Phil said. "First we fought the bilgesnipe -- team cooperation is still rising, by the way -- and then Tony rigged a fire hydrant so we could all clean up. Hulk enjoyed his bath tremendously. You may get more of that in the future because we've promised to wash him after any messy fight. These are pictures from Hulk's bathtime." Phil handed Bruce a Starkpad with the images that Tony had carefully loaded onto it.
"Is this ... bubble bath?" Bruce asked, much as Clint had done earlier.
"Lemon-scented liquid soap with strong foaming action and something to break down the noxious oil from the bilgesnipe," Phil said. "I believe Tony attached the chemical formula for your perusal."
"Yeah, there it is," Bruce said, his fingers flicking through the familiar commands. Then he went back to the pictures.
"Why is Natasha riding an inner tube shaped like a duck? That image is just making my brain go TILT and shut down the whole system."
"Natka, actually. Hulk's personality and his tendency to call me 'Uncle Phil' put everyone in a game night kind of mood," Phil said.
"In public? Is that safe?" Bruce asked.
"Interesting that you should say that -- Hulk asked me the same thing. I made sure we had a perimeter and a surveillance blackout, so yes, perfectly safe," Phil said.
"Huh," Bruce said, bemused.
"Anyway, Natka and Clint got into a water fight. Hulk put her on the rubber ducky and skated her out of reach," Phil said. "He has a remarkably delicate touch at times."
"Sure he does," Bruce said darkly. "The Other Guy handles delicacy the way I handle power: badly." Bruce seemed resentful -- almost jealous -- of the suggestion that Hulk might have the potential for any kind of tenderness or discernment. "Don't mix us up. Don't confuse him with me. We are nothing alike, and the sooner you get that through your head, the safer we'll all be."
"It's not confusion, it's observation," Phil said mildly. Bruce wasn't even reading himself accurately, let alone Hulk. One didn't become an expert in gamma radiation without a fine grasp of power. "I see some of the same admirable traits in both of you. You've earned the trust of several very cautious people -- that's not something to take lightly."
"You can't trust him, Phil. I can't trust him," Bruce insisted, growing more agitated. He shifted restlessly in bed. He resisted any suggestion of common ground between himself and Hulk. "I never know when I'm going to wake up and have to clean up some mess he's made, or run for my life because of what he's done."
* * *
Notes:
Emotional intelligence concerns the fluency with which a person perceives, uses, understands, and manages emotions. There are ways of developing emotional intelligence. In the theory of multiple intelligences, there are commonly nine types listed. Emotional intelligence is a related concept but not part of the exact same set; it overlaps interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences.
When one person badmouths another within a group, it tends to undermine the teamwork. The Avengers are just starting to realize how skewed Bruce's perception of Hulk can be. It's not without basis, but it's getting less and less accurate over time.
Bruce has a somewhat different idea of secrecy and privacy than Hulk, even though he quickly asks a similar question. Bruce is thinking more about family secrets and family privacy in terms of potential risks, rather than group cohesion.
Earning trust is a vital part of relationships. The bond between Bruce and Hulk is a major weakness in the team, because the two of them don't trust each other.
[To be continued in Part 3 ...]
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Bruce Banner, Hulk.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Inferences of past child/domestic abuse. Current environment is safe.
Summary: Phil shows Bruce the cute pictures of the team helping Hulk clean up after the bilgesnipe fight. Bruce finds the whole idea more confusing than pleasing.
Notes: Teamwork. Friendship. Flangst. Hurt/comfort. Dysfunctional relationship dynamics. Trust issues. Safety and security. ALL THE FEELS. Non-sexual touching and intimacy. Personal growth. Family of choice.
Begin with Part 1. Skip to Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14.
"Coming Around" Part 2
"I have photographic evidence to the contrary, Bruce. You may not have seen the gentle side of Hulk, but the rest of us have," Phil said. "He asked us to share some things with you, since he has trouble doing so himself." Hulk's request made Phil suspect that his emotional intelligence ranked a lot higher than most people gave him credit for, and Bruce's negative descriptions only made matters worse. "Tony and I promised to take care of this for the two of you."
"He asked you?" Bruce said. He gave Phil a dubious look. Something about this clearly bothered him, but Phil couldn't tell what.
"Quite nicely," Phil said. "First we fought the bilgesnipe -- team cooperation is still rising, by the way -- and then Tony rigged a fire hydrant so we could all clean up. Hulk enjoyed his bath tremendously. You may get more of that in the future because we've promised to wash him after any messy fight. These are pictures from Hulk's bathtime." Phil handed Bruce a Starkpad with the images that Tony had carefully loaded onto it.
"Is this ... bubble bath?" Bruce asked, much as Clint had done earlier.
"Lemon-scented liquid soap with strong foaming action and something to break down the noxious oil from the bilgesnipe," Phil said. "I believe Tony attached the chemical formula for your perusal."
"Yeah, there it is," Bruce said, his fingers flicking through the familiar commands. Then he went back to the pictures.
"Why is Natasha riding an inner tube shaped like a duck? That image is just making my brain go TILT and shut down the whole system."
"Natka, actually. Hulk's personality and his tendency to call me 'Uncle Phil' put everyone in a game night kind of mood," Phil said.
"In public? Is that safe?" Bruce asked.
"Interesting that you should say that -- Hulk asked me the same thing. I made sure we had a perimeter and a surveillance blackout, so yes, perfectly safe," Phil said.
"Huh," Bruce said, bemused.
"Anyway, Natka and Clint got into a water fight. Hulk put her on the rubber ducky and skated her out of reach," Phil said. "He has a remarkably delicate touch at times."
"Sure he does," Bruce said darkly. "The Other Guy handles delicacy the way I handle power: badly." Bruce seemed resentful -- almost jealous -- of the suggestion that Hulk might have the potential for any kind of tenderness or discernment. "Don't mix us up. Don't confuse him with me. We are nothing alike, and the sooner you get that through your head, the safer we'll all be."
"It's not confusion, it's observation," Phil said mildly. Bruce wasn't even reading himself accurately, let alone Hulk. One didn't become an expert in gamma radiation without a fine grasp of power. "I see some of the same admirable traits in both of you. You've earned the trust of several very cautious people -- that's not something to take lightly."
"You can't trust him, Phil. I can't trust him," Bruce insisted, growing more agitated. He shifted restlessly in bed. He resisted any suggestion of common ground between himself and Hulk. "I never know when I'm going to wake up and have to clean up some mess he's made, or run for my life because of what he's done."
* * *
Notes:
Emotional intelligence concerns the fluency with which a person perceives, uses, understands, and manages emotions. There are ways of developing emotional intelligence. In the theory of multiple intelligences, there are commonly nine types listed. Emotional intelligence is a related concept but not part of the exact same set; it overlaps interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences.
When one person badmouths another within a group, it tends to undermine the teamwork. The Avengers are just starting to realize how skewed Bruce's perception of Hulk can be. It's not without basis, but it's getting less and less accurate over time.
Bruce has a somewhat different idea of secrecy and privacy than Hulk, even though he quickly asks a similar question. Bruce is thinking more about family secrets and family privacy in terms of potential risks, rather than group cohesion.
Earning trust is a vital part of relationships. The bond between Bruce and Hulk is a major weakness in the team, because the two of them don't trust each other.
[To be continued in Part 3 ...]
This looks good!
Date: 2013-04-11 12:06 pm (UTC)Re: This looks good!
Date: 2013-04-12 05:56 am (UTC)That's one of my favorite parts of fanfic, digging into character backstory and using it to extrapolate new conflicts. "Coming Around" is all about that for Bruce, but if you look at the rest of this series, you'll see me doing it to everyone else as well. I'm glad you're enjoying this!
>> Oh and I've never really used this site before...is there a way to get notifications without necessarily signing up? I don't want to let this story go! Thanks! <<
If you have a feed manager, you should be able to load my Dreamwidth journal into that, or even a specific tag -- someone else mentioned putting my "fiction" tag on their feed. But different feed programs work in different ways so I don't know what yours will do, if you even use one.
Anyhow, I've been updating daily. I'm working on another story after this one.