chasing waterfalls [Peter Parker]

~34~

We were at some diner. I was sitting next to Nat, and across the table from us was Hulk. Only he wasn't Hulk, but he wasn't Bruce Banner either. In front of him was a giant bowl of scrambled eggs, a giant plate of bacon, and a giant plate of toast. I was confused as how he was eating that much. 

"Come on, I feel like I'm the only one eating here." Hulk gestured to the eggs. "Try some of that. Have some eggs." Scott looked as confused as I was. 

"I'm so confused." Scott said while shaking his head. Hulk nodded. 

"These are confusing times." He chuckled.

"Right, no, no. That's not what I meant." Scott got all flustered, and Hulk smiled. 

"Nah, I get it. I'm kidding!" He gestured to himself, chuckling. "I know, it's crazy. I'm wearing shirts now." 

"Yeah. What? How? Why?" Scott didn't take a pause in between each question. He just kept on asking one word questions. 

"Five years ago we got our asses beat." He wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Except it was worse for me, cause I lost twice. First Hulk lost, then Banner lost, and then we all lost." I looked down at the table. Nat shook her head. 

"No one blamed you, Bruce." Hulk shook his head. 

"I did." He sighed. "For years, I've been treating the Hulk like he's some kind of disease, something to get rid of. But then I start looking at him as the cure." He smiled. "Eighteen months in the gamma lab. I put the brains and the brawn together... and now look at me." I nodded. 

"Best of both worlds." Hulk pointed at me.

"Exactly!" At that point some kids came over. It was two boys and a girl, they all looked middle-school age. The girl was holding a phone. 

"Excuse me, Mr. Hulk?" The girl asked.

"Yes?"

"Can we get a photo?" Hulk nodded. 

"One hundred percent, little person." He grabbed the tiny phone with his oversized hands. "Come on, step on up." He offered the phone to Scott. "Do you mind?" Scott took the phone.

"Oh, yeah, yeah." He held up the phone to take the picture.

"Say green." Hulk took off his glasses and held up a fist. Scott took the picture then handed it back to the kids. "Did you get that?" 

"That's a good one." The girl took the phone. "Do you want to grab one with me? I'm Ant-Man." No one said anything, and I chuckled. I was a little loud because Nat elbowed me in the side. 

"Ow." Nat smiled. 

"They're Hulk fans. They don't know Ant-Man. Nobody does." The back and forth went on for a while, and I buried my face in my hands. This was too embarrassing to watch. Eventually, the kids walked away. I sighed. Hulk dabbed to say goodbye to the kids, which made me almost throw up in my mouth. 

"Bruce." Cap started.

"Listen to your mom."

"Bruce." 

"She knows better."

"About what we were saying." Hulk nodded, sitting back down. 

"Right. The whole time travel do-over?" He sighed. "Eh, guys, it's outside of my area of expertise." Nat shrugged. 

"Well, you pulled this off. I remember a time when that seemed pretty impossible too." Hulk smiled. He agreed to help.