A/N: Man, authors are such crappy updaters. It's me. I'm authors.

Dmitri sighed as he watched the cartoon reruns on Uncle Bruce's floor. His mom was still in the hospital and Clint (Dad? What should Dmitri call him now?) was there with her. Dmitri had also been there with them for a while, but after he'd knocked over his mom's IV stand while exploring, his dad told him to go wait outside until someone could pick him up. But the problem was that waiting outside was boring! Dmitri wanted to find stuff. He wanted to know how things worked. So he snuck into one of the labs there and accidentally knocked over some chemicals. But how was he supposed to know they were dangerous! Uncle Tony told him not to touch anything in his lab. Dmitri didn't think that applied to all labs! Clint told him that he was in Big Trouble when he got home, but he wanted to make sure his mom would be okay before then. Dmitri didn't understand what the big deal was. He only melted three tables. Uncle Tony blew up three labs! And only two of them were his!

And yet, Uncle Steve took Dmitri back to the Tower and left him with Uncle Bruce since everyone else got called to kick some bad guy… butt. The problem was that staying with Uncle Bruce wasn't fun. He didn't have any coloring books or toys and he wouldn't let Dmitri go get them from his mommy's floor. All he had were reruns of a cartoon he'd seen a million billion times on a tiny TV in the living room. He. Was. Bored.

He slid off of the couch and poked his head around the corner to where Uncle Tony had built Uncle Bruce a lab. He thinks Uncle Tony called it a Man Cave. Dmitri watched him work for several long moments before sneaking up behind him to where there were a bunch of bottles on the table that look more than a little interesting. There were towards the middle of a taller table, so Dmitri had a hard time seeing them, but it looked like there was one a little closer to him that he could possibly reach, and it looked awesome! It was a glass beaker that was half full of something orange and half full of something purple, with what looked like a thin layer of something clear separating them. He wondered what it did.

It sat atop a piece of paper and if Dmitri stretched just right, he could reach it, so he pulled on the paper until the beaker was within his grasp and yanked it towards himself. As he did, the colors mixed and started to smoke, making the boy panic. He quickly shoved the glass container away, tipping it over and causing the liquid to run out and melted the bottom of the other glasses, which caused more mixing which caused more smoke and shattering as some other glasses broke. Dmitri screamed and ducked underneath a different table. Uncle Bruce whirled around at that point, shocked, and saw all the damage and flames starting to grow larger and larger.

Before Dmitri's eyes, his face contorted and the kind doctor grew taller and wider and greener, shirt tearing and falling while his pants stretched. He roared loudly and Dmitri clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from screaming in fear. He'd never seen Mr. Hulk before and while he knew that Mr. Hulk kept his mommy safe, he also looked scary and Dmitri really didn't want to be there anymore.

He watched as Mr. Hulk took in the flames that were starting to spread, huffing out a big sigh before flopping down on top of them and smothering it. Within moments, the fire was out and the giant green rage monster hunched over and started looking at the pictures Uncle Bruce kept on the walls. He walked from one end of the lab to the other and was passing in front of the table Dmitri was hiding under when the boy couldn't hide his fear any longer and whimpered.

Large green feet stopped in front of him and Dmitri would admit to being more than a little terrified when a green face made an appearance.

Hulk huffed again and gently pulled Dmitri out from under the table, one large hand wrapping around his middle. As he did, Dmitri started crying, fat tears rolling down his face as he sobbed in panic. Hulk looked a little sad that he was so scared and patted Dmitri's hair oh so gently. "Hulk not hurt Little Spider. Little Spider no cry."
Dmitri blinked away more tears as an enormous thumb wiped them from his cheeks. "You're not going to hurt me?"

Hulk shook his head. "Hulk protect Little Spider."

Dmitri smiled at him. "You protect my mommy, right?"

"Hulk like Spider Lady." He frowned. "Where Spider Lady?"

"Mom got hurted. She's in the hospital."

The jolly green giant pouted. "Hulk Miss Spider Lady."

The seven-year-old patted his arm comfortingly. "She'll be back soon. Uncle Bruce says she heals fast."

Hulk nodded and Dmitri grinned at him. "Wanna play a game?"

"Yes."

"Cool." Dmitri thought for a moment. "I like hide and go seek. Have you ever played before?" Hulk shook his head, so the boy continued. "Okay. Well, one of us counts to twenty and the other one hides. When the person counting gets to twenty, they have to find the person hiding. Easy." He looked around the lab. "Well, it might be a little harder. There don't look like there's a lot of good hiding places around." He shrugged. "I'll count first!"

Hulk let him down, and he covered his eyes and started counting. "Nineteen, twenty! Ready or not, here I come!"

When he uncovered his eyes, he saw the Hulk in the corner with his back to him, clearly trying to blend in with the wall. Dmitri smiled widely and pretended to walk around the lab. "I wonder where he went. I just can't find him!"

Hulk peeked over his shoulder, seeing Dmitri looking away, before turning around again. Dmitri wandered around for a little while before shouting "There you are! I found you!"

Hulk whirled around. "I hide good?"

"I almost didn't find you! You hid really good!"

They spent the rest of the day playing around the lab and the rest of the floor. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

A/N: So, I'm thinking Goose for the next chapter. Because that sounds like fun. Let me know if that's something worth reading.