Different Boxes
by K. Stonham
first released 25th July 2012

In the darkness of that room on the outskirts of Calcutta, Bruce thought Natasha was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

His bar, he admits, is set pretty high. Betty, love of his life, had looked like someone who should grace the silver screen, or a rich man's arm. Not a woman who should be with, of all people, a geeky scientist.

And following the last time he'd seen Betty, he'd wandered through what seemed like half the third world, finding beautiful women and handsome men in the most obscure of places. His standards of beauty, Bruce thinks, have evolved during his wanderings. He'd never really thought about it much before leaving America, but a flash of midnight-black skin in Kenya had made his mouth go dry. As had the perfect olive complexion of an Hmong refugee, and the sleek dark hair of a Bolivian girl wearing bright skirts that belied her poverty.

Natasha, though... It almost seems obscene. The perfect pallor of her complexion. The decadence of her lipstick. The flaming color of her curls.

He distrusts her immediately.

Bruce is used to following his instincts, and once again they are proven right. She may be beautiful, but just like so many others, she wants to use him. Putting a pretty bow on the box doesn't make SHIELD's offer any less of a trap. Natasha Romanoff lies like water spills, and she's afraid of him.

That, at least, he can use.

He ends up going with her because his other options don't really appeal. He gets a datapad with briefing information on it. The feel of the sleek modern technology in his hands is disconcerting. He pushes the sensation aside. He's here to do a job. Hopefully SHIELD will keep its word and let him walk away afterward.

Captain America is a bit of a surprise. Bruce's instincts tell him that the man is as honest as Natasha is not. He decides he likes Steve. There may be something to be said for the 1940s after all.

The equipment SHIELD lets him have the run of... it nearly takes Bruce's breath away. For a long, uncountable moment he wants to stay. Then he takes a deep breath, shores himself up, and reminds himself that it's just more wrapping paper on that box SHIELD built for him.

Huh. They did actually build a literal box for him. It's handy; they use it for Loki.

And... wow. Someone who can keep up with Bruce. He hasn't felt frission like this in years. He's too used to having to either talk over the heads of other people, or just talk to himself. He and Tony Stark get on like a house on fire, though, and for the first time in a long time, Bruce feels the first spark of excitement. The things they could do together...

No. He has to be good. He has to be in control. New York is definitely not a good idea.

And it turns out that Fury's plans are worse than just putting Bruce in a box. He feels the anger rise, the hurt, feels himself getting tight, choking on it...

Putting the spear down is like taking a deep breath and counting to ten.

And then it all goes to hell anyway.

He knew this would happen. He told them. Why doesn't anyone listen...

Natasha is lying again. Telling him it will be all right, that she will get him out of this.

She can't even get herself out of it.

Something snaps, and the world goes someplace very dark and far away.

When Bruce wakes up, he's naked and covered in dust, lying in a pile of rubble, with a kind-faced security guard making sure he's okay.

He would almost like to choke on the irony.

And then the man informs him that he has a condition, and it's all Bruce can do not to laugh. He's just that relieved that whatever went down on the Helicarrier, at least he didn't hurt anyone here on the ground...

His mirth drains away as he remembers the coordinates his search had finally come up with just before the attack and the Hulk.

Looks like he's going to New York after all.

Wow. They really didn't have any faith in him. Which Bruce guesses he can understand.

But just because they can't trust him doesn't mean that, with the world on the wire, Bruce can't trust himself.

Maybe Tony's right. Maybe this is what he was meant for, and all the pain, all the running and hiding, was just giving him time to find his center and be ready.

Bruce steps toward the leviathan bearing down on them, and opens the box inside himself.

The Chitauri troop ship may seem to have the momentum of an irresistable force, but Bruce will lay his money on the line that the Hulk is a pretty damn immoveable object.

After, he stays. There is shawarma and it says something to the intensity of the battle that Bruce, for once, feels as exhausted as the rest of them look. The Other Guy always takes it out of him, but before it's always been more of a mental fatigue than a physical one.

(JARVIS' recording of the Hulk delivering a beatdown on Loki will later become a movie night favorite for not just the Avengers, but SHIELD as well.)

Steve is, as always, genuine. (How weird is it to be on first-name basis with Captain America?) Thor is much the same, except using more grandiose words than the Captain. Clint, now that he's not brainwashed, seems a decent type. Bruce thinks he detects a glimmer of humor, but it's hard to tell beneath how wiped-out they all are. And Natasha...

Now that she's not on an op, she's not quite as pretty. She's still beautiful, there's no doubting that. But it seems less calculated. More... genuine, Bruce thinks. She's no longer afraid of him. And, poking at that corner of his mind that deals with such things, he realizes he's no longer angry at her. Natasha is what Natasha is, and she does what she does. It's like being angry at water for being wet.

She catches him looking at her, and smiles tiredly. Bruce smiles back, and relaxes as bonelessly as possible into the restaurant's uncomfortable plastic chair.

Afterward, when they're done and Tony has left a generous tip, they decamp back to Stark Tower. Power is out in most of Manhattan, but the Tower is self-sustaining. The elevators are beautifully fast. Tony shows Bruce the ten floors of R&D he'd promised, tempting but not pushing. If Bruce leaves, he'll be okay with it. But it's also obvious that Tony would really, really like for him to stay and play.

Bruce looks out the window, at the somewhat wrecked skyline. He thinks about what happened the last time he was in New York, and what happened this time in New York. He thinks about the difference, and the difference in him.

He thinks, why not.

A/N: Huh. This started with the thought that Scarlett Johansson looked really nice in that choli and sari, and somehow ended up following Bruce through the whole damn movie. The arc of her and Bruce's relationship really is one of my favorite things about the film, so I guess it's not that unexpected.