Changing Colors - A Bruce Banner Story

Take My Hand

Bruce woke up to blinding sun. By now it must have been mid-afternoon.

"Shit," he muttered, realizing he must've fallen asleep. He looked over at the clothes which seemed mostly dry at least, and figured he should probably wake Indigo up. He glanced down at her and was about to shake her awake when it struck him how peaceful she looked. In the short time he had known her so far he had only ever seen her looking stressed out or upset. Never relaxed.

Her hair had fallen into her face again so he brushed it gently behind her ear.

She groaned and hit his hand lightly, "Ebony go away. Give me five more minutes."

Bruce smiled but his happy expression soon disappeared when he realized that Indigo was dreaming about her brother. He knew the feeling of dreaming about someone who was long gone, then waking up and being disappointed.

"Indie?" he shook her arm gently, "Time to get up."

Her eyes fluttered open and she sat up, almost knocking her head right into his.

"Fuck," she muttered, rubbing her eyes and looking around, "What time is it?"

"I'm not sure," Bruce said, "Probably somewhere around two."

Indigo got up and went to inspect the clothes they had laid out to dry. She tossed Bruce a shirt and a pair of cargo shorts with a smile, "Time to go."

•••

After Bruce had changed and put the rest of his dry belongings back into his bags he returned to where Indigo was sitting, eating the last of her almonds. She was already packed up and ready to go.

Bruce laughed a little, "When you get to Paris the first thing you should do is have a good dinner. You're always hungry."

She looked up and smiled, "I've been told constant hunger is a side effect of weird glowing electric powers. Is that true Doc?"

"Doc?" he chuckled.

"It's a better nickname than 'Indie'," she smirked, referring to what he had called her when he woke her up a few minutes earlier.

Bruce blushed and looked down at his feet, "Sorry, I didn't mean to- it just kind of-"

"It's fine," she reassured him with a smile as she stood up and started to walk down the beach, "I like it."

He looked up in surprise, "Wait really?"

She nodded as he jogged to catch up with her, "Yeah. My brother used to call me that."

He frowned, "I thought you said you didn't have any nicknames." He was almost entirely sure that was what she had told him on the plane.

"I lied," she shrugged in a non-committal way.

He couldn't help but smile a little at her simple answer.

Bruce and Indigo walked for what seemed like an hour or two until they reached civilization.

A boardwalk to be more precise. With a large ferris wheel and a crowd rivaling any Bruce had seen within the past year or two.

His hands started to shake a little as he remembered his rampage through New York City. This looked like a horrible repeat of the incident just waiting to happen.

"Alright so confined spaces and crowds," Indigo spoke, looking down at his hands, "Both bad."

Bruce nodded and swallowed harshly. He took a small step back and probably would have taken off in the opposite direction had Indigo not taken his hand in hers.