fiction | Part of the journey is the end

3. Professor hulk

Later, Steve, Natasha, Scott and Professor Hulk sat in a restaurant as Bruce ate and said it felt like he was the only one eating, asking the others to try some eggs.

Everyone's jaws dropped at the sight of Professor Hulk.

"What the fuck?"

"What the hell?"

"How is this possible?"

Bruce was staring at the screen with wide eyes, speechless.

Scott said it was confusing, and Bruce joked these were confusing times before saying he was kidding. Bruce said he knew it was crazy that he was wearing shirts now and explained, "Five years ago, we got our asses beat. Except it was worse for me. Because I lost twice. First, Hulk lost. Then Banner lost. Then, we all lost."

Bruce looked down at his feet sadly.

"No one blamed you, Bruce," Natasha assured. "I did," said Bruce.

Everyone looked at Bruce sadly. Thor knew how he felt; he was blaming himself too.

"For years, I've been treating the Hulk like he's some kind of disease, something to get rid of. But then I started looking at him as the cure," Bruce explained, "Eighteen months in a gamma lab. I put the brains and the brawn together. And now look at me," He gestured to himself, "Best of both worlds."

Tony clapped Bruce on the back. "See, I told you Hulk wasn't all that bad." Bruce didn't say anything; he was still trying to wrap his head around being in the Hulk's body but keeping his personality.

A note appeared that read, "While Bruce communicated with the Hulk, he told Bruce that Thor was his best friend."

Thor grinned. "Tell the Hulk I'm honoured to be his best friend."

Loki couldn't help but groan. Of course, the beast would consider his idiotic brother to be his best friend.

Then a girl and two boys arrived, asking for a picture.

Bruce thought he couldn't get more surprised, but children were asking for a picture?

Thor laughed. "Look, Banner. Now Earth likes you too, not just Sakaar."

Bruce agreed, taking the phone and giving it to Scott as they said 'green' while Scott took the picture.

Everyone looked at Bruce incredulously.

Scott returned the phone before asking if they wanted a picture with him. He was Ant-Man. They were puzzled as he said they were Hulk fans, so they didn't know Ant-Man.

Everyone cringed while Scott's face turned pink. "This is awkward," muttered Sam.

Bruce said they could, and even the kids said they would.

"This is useless," Nebula stated bluntly, not understanding why Bruce was taking a photo with random children instead of talking about time travel. "You should be discussing how to get everyone back."

Scott and Bruce turned slightly pinker.

After a long argument, Scott returned the phone as Bruce did a dab.

"Did you just dab in 2023?" Peter cringed.

Bruce shrugged. "I don't even know what a dab is. Is it a thing kids do?"

"Yeah, like last year."

He then focused on the conversation again, saying time travel was outside his area of expertise, but Natasha said he'd pulled this off, and even that seemed impossible.