>> Yeah. It's not what actually happened, but that feeling of being buried under a tidal wave... that took some time to get through. Hours, maybe, I don't have a clear time sense for it. <<
*hugs* How awful.
>> Having people he trusts take care of him while he basically has a classically defined "mental breakdown" will help tremendously <<
I think it will help with intimacy, and begin to convince Bruce that there are people who will help him when he is vulnerable instead of hurting or abandoning him.
>> both to keep the duration short, <<
Well, it's not going to be what I'd call short. As you said, hours and hours of breakdown. He's likely to spend half a day or so bawling hysterically until he cries himself to sleep. Which is not even the first time an Avenger has done that, but Steve is more in touch with his emotions than Bruce is, and better equipped to cry it out and be done with it.
>> and give Bruce more chance to avoid /more/ damage on top of it. <<
Any of the Avengers would be capable of doing damage control during a breakdown, some better than others. I'm mainly looking at Phil for primary support but it will help to have other folks helping Bruce in the aftermath too.
>> You had one wonderful version of Bruce actually breaking down and beginning to build himself back up again. I'd love to see this Bruce take a different path toward getting a handle on things. <<
That's exactly what I have in mind as part of the big Bruce-and-Hulk story. There is just no way the two of them are getting their act together without falling apart first. They have to, because the relationship they have now is decreasingly functional, but they're not willing to just admit that and rebuild from scratch. So the process of trying to tinker with little bits of it, combined with the changing circumstances, will ultimately bring everything crashing down around them.
And they have no experience with that kind of total collapse being a good thing, so they are going to melt down like woah.
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dancing_serpent
Re: Phil is Awesome Again!
Date: 2014-05-09 03:35 am (UTC)*hugs* How awful.
>> Having people he trusts take care of him while he basically has a classically defined "mental breakdown" will help tremendously <<
I think it will help with intimacy, and begin to convince Bruce that there are people who will help him when he is vulnerable instead of hurting or abandoning him.
>> both to keep the duration short, <<
Well, it's not going to be what I'd call short. As you said, hours and hours of breakdown. He's likely to spend half a day or so bawling hysterically until he cries himself to sleep. Which is not even the first time an Avenger has done that, but Steve is more in touch with his emotions than Bruce is, and better equipped to cry it out and be done with it.
>> and give Bruce more chance to avoid /more/ damage on top of it. <<
Any of the Avengers would be capable of doing damage control during a breakdown, some better than others. I'm mainly looking at Phil for primary support but it will help to have other folks helping Bruce in the aftermath too.
>> You had one wonderful version of Bruce actually breaking down and beginning to build himself back up again. I'd love to see this Bruce take a different path toward getting a handle on things. <<
That's exactly what I have in mind as part of the big Bruce-and-Hulk story. There is just no way the two of them are getting their act together without falling apart first. They have to, because the relationship they have now is decreasingly functional, but they're not willing to just admit that and rebuild from scratch. So the process of trying to tinker with little bits of it, combined with the changing circumstances, will ultimately bring everything crashing down around them.
And they have no experience with that kind of total collapse being a good thing, so they are going to melt down like woah.