Hollow Ichigo and Bruce Banner with 63 and 90?
– yoshifics
(63: Everybody knows/mistaken couple, 90: unexpected virgin)
They meet while Bruce is running in the aftermath of Harlem… or rather, Hulk meets them while Bruce is running.
Bruce meets them the next day, waking in a strange home with a pale, white haired and golden-eyed stranger perched on a crude cabinet nearby. The man is whittling something, talented fingers controlling knife and wood with precision despite the man’s gaze flickering over to him every so often.
(“Sleepin’ beauty’s finally awake, eh? Going big’n’green must take it outta ya.”
“You shouldn’t–”
“If yer ‘bout t’call yerself a dangerous monster, save it. We’re all monsters ‘ere, an’ none a’us take kindly t’someone shittin’ on themself.”)
Bruce… doesn’t stick around long. Six people near him is six potential victims that he refuses to endanger.
He reluctantly accepts a meal, accepts a change of clothing and a bag, and escapes before noon. He’s dangerous. Dangerous to everyone and everything thing around, and the moment he loses control is the moment the kind strangers will pay for their kindness.
He can’t have any more of that on his conscious.
He can’t.
They meet again, two months and two Hulk-outs later, and once again it’s Shiro who sits with him until he wakes.
(“Runnin’ from yer problems ain’t ever gotten anyone anywhere cept into more trouble.”
“Then what do you suggest?!”
“Listen. Question. Think. Stop assumin’ yer other half’s nothin’ but rage an’ violence.”
“That’s all he is!”
“Mhm. Y’got proof a’that?”
“Harlem is destroyed and people lost their lives because of it!”
“Y’know what I see when I look at those vids? Protective instincts an’ an effort t’survive. Yer a scientist, ain’t ya supposed t’have a control test b’fore y’pass judgment?”)
It’s Ichigo who draws him aside after breakfast, who sits him down and explains in stilted words his own troubles as a teen. There’s enough blanks in his story that Bruce wonders if he’s fallen in with a group of Enhanced, but… the parallel is startling. The alternate personality, fighting for control, lashing out in defense…
He leaves again, but this time… thoughtful.
Ichigo… understands him. In a way that Bruce never expected to be understood again.
And if he’s right about his guess, and about the strange gap where Shiro should feature and doesn’t–
Well, Bruce suspects there’s more than one way for a near-twin to exist, if he’s factoring the strange world of Enhanced into the picture.
So he retreats to a place where few people live and… tries something. He doesn’t really know what he’s doing, is working off of supposition and vague memories of pop culture references, but he hears… something. It’s more impressions than words, all tangled emotions and jarring images and deep, rumbling almost-words.
So he… tries. He reaches ‘out’ and tries to soothe the poisonous tangle of fear-rage-helplessness that’s whirling about in the spot he’s labeled ‘Hulk’. It’s… hard, especially when his own emotions interfere, but… he thinks he’s getting somewhere at last.
And then the army comes. And Hulk appears.
And Bruce wakes up in a strange bed with Shiro perched nearby, still whittling away.
( “Yer gettin’ somewhere. Keep it up. Hulk spoke ta us in simple sentences this time.”
“I… alright.”)
And so it repeats: he leaves, wanders somewhere new, works on his communication with his alter-ego, has an accident and wakes up in a strange bed with Shiro keeping watch.
(“Why is it always you?”
“What, ya don’t like m’dashin’ good looks?”
“It just seems strange, is all. You’ve said you all take turns, but I always wake up to you.”
“Luck a’the draw, trust me.”)
By the time SHIELD comes to recruit him, Bruce has given up splitting from the others. The understanding and help that Shiro and Ichigo offer him is too tempting, and Orihime is difficult to refuse even when he’s feeling his best. Even the other three, Tatsuki, Chad, and Uryuu, are pleasant to be around and teach him whatever they can if he asks. He’s learned more from Uryuu about meditation and the body’s natural energies than he ever expected to, Chad is always willing to sit down and play guitar to help calm him down, and Tatsuki nudges him into learning self-defense to the point that Hulk stops being constantly afraid.
It’s… nice.
So when SHIELD shows up, they catch him alone. Of course.
Not that they stay that way.
Shiro appears in a heartbeat, draping an arm over Bruce’s shoulder and baring his teeth in a threatening grin. The red-head twitches back, eyes widening just enough for Bruce to know that she didn’t expect Shiro in the slightest, and that display is enough to set him at ease.
All seven of them are welcomed onto the Helicarrier without a hint of protest.
( “Question. Why th’hell’s e’ryone callin’ ya my boytoy?”
“Because you’re protective over me like we’re in a relationship.”
“Wh–no? Sorry, but uh… ain’t interested at all. Aibo an’ I don’t uh… y’know. Have any sorta interest. In anyone.”
“I figured. Nothing you can do about them though, unless you feel like backing off.”
“…. Do ya want me to…?”
“No.”
“Then fuck’em.”)