pass the wandering eyes of the ones that were left behind;

[trickshot]

WHO: banner & barton, take ii
WHERE: a street in the city
WHEN: today
WARNINGS: n/a
SUMMARY: walk dogs. meet acquaintances. drink coffee. ???. profit.
FORMAT: whatever sammo wants.

<sub>( it's about noon and it's a warm enough day for it to be uncomfortable outside. for some reason, clint decides to go outside. he drags bee-pug along with him, because the act can't quite be considered walking. the pug goes at a snail's pace, rolls gently bouncing as he toddles along. clint has the leash tucked under his arm and an eye scanning the sidewalk ahead of him. it's only by chance that he notices someone else across the street, someone with more to handle than just one lazy pug.

oh. it's bruce banner. )</sub>

Comments

[hulk]

[ It was only by luck that Bruce paid enough attention to the calendar to see the pugs had a vet appointment today. And then he had to go and add on a fourth because of Tony Stark, Jr. - least that's what it said on the collar of the pug dropped on his doorstep.

How did he get all four pugs down into the City without any kind of car or teleporter from his and Jen's place in the suburbs? Don't ask.

But now everybody's out of the vet's and very energetic to be there, and so there's a lot of yipping and dashing around and Bruce... Is trying to get them all a little saner. ]

Come on, th- Seriously, guys, let's. We need to get g-

[ Oh. Sup Clint. ]

...Hi.

[trickshot]

<sub>( clint would laugh if he was a meaner-- oh, wait. he is. so he takes one look at banner trying to juggle all those dogs, and throws back his head and laughs. bee-pug, meanwhile, stands in idle and harsh judgment before crossing the street to lean heavily against his siblings.

at that point, of course, clint has to follow him over. )</sub>

What are you even doing?

[hulk]

[ The pugs swarm in a happy mess of wriggling butts and tongues over their bro-pug. Which leads to a tangling of leashes and Bruce doing his best not to trip himself all over the place. ]

Uh, I. The dogs had an appointment. You know, with the vet, so. Brought them all in.

[ Wobbles-- Nope, we're good. Not falling yet. ]

You?

[trickshot]

_{( clint is a mature adult who offers no help and actually just drops bee-pug's leash because it's not like he's going anywhere, anyway. in response to bruce's question he just looks at the leash, then the sidewalk, and back again. )}

I'm walking my dog. _{( so flat. don't call that walking clint that is an insult to the concept. )}

[hulk]

[ Bruce at least tries to untangle all these leashes, stooping down and following the thread of a single leash between wriggly butt one and wriggly butt two. ...Or is it three. Who can even tell anymore. He can't. ]

Oh. Well. [ a w k ] ...Nice weather for it, anyway.

[ ...Well, it's less cloudy today than it has been the rest of the week with the thunderstorms and whatnot. ]

[trickshot]

_{( clint's about to roll his eyes, but then he looks at bruce and he's so pathetic he can't quite bring himself to. instead her just tucks his hands in his jeans pockets and huffs. )}

Even if it wasn't, dog's gotta walk. No one else is going to do it.

_{( he pauses. )}

Nice of you, I guess. Looking after Jen's.

[hulk]

[ pathetic singularity achieved ]

Nobody else in the, uh. Mansion would do it? That's. Huh.

[ okay slightly less gordian knot of leash doom so he'll stand up ]

What was I going to do, just. Ignore them while she's gone or give them away? [ cause she's totally coming back shut up ] Th- No. Besides. I like dogs, so it's not that big a deal.

[trickshot]

The mansion's kinda empty these days. _{( he pulls a face, scratches the back of his neck. )}

I didn't say you'd do that. I'm just saying some people are jerks and don't care about their cousins' dogs.

[hulk]

[ It's a fickle mistress. ]

Oh. Right with... Yeah.

[ And he knows at least one of the people not being there was his fault before going and. Yeah, indeed. ]

Oh. Well. ...Thanks? I guess.

[trickshot]

That wasn't a compliment. _{( don't get too comfortable, banner. 8| )}

[hulk]

[ sighing he really shouldn't u__u

but whatever, he'll shrug and scratch at the back of his neck with his free hand. ]

Right. My mistake.

[ so. awk. what now. ]

[trickshot]

<sub>( clint's going to drag bee-pug away from the heard, now.

let's see how that goes. )</sub>

[hulk]

[ Excuse you, Clint, Bee-Pug is basking in the adoration of his pug bros and sisters. Why you gotta pug-block, bro. Why. All this and even more judging can be seen in Bee-Pug's dead eyes. ]

...I think they're wanting to hang out a bit more.

[trickshot]

_{( that was not what clint wanted to hear. he huffs and rolls his eyes. )}

Fine. Come on, then.

[hulk]

[ Bruce picks up Bee-Pug's leash to add it to the four he already has in his hand. ]

Where we going?

[trickshot]

_{( clint walks five steps ahead like the true jerk he is. )}

I was going to get coffee. I'm not not going to just 'cause the dogs want to hang out.

[hulk]

[ Bruce gets the dogs to come on, even Bee-Pug - but he looks supremely offended until he gets going with his pugtourage. ]

Well, they can just. You could tie them up outside, right?

[trickshot]

That's the plan.

_{( Clint waves a hand behind him, motioning for Bruce to follow. Then he stretches his arms over his head and walks a half-block like that, until they reach the aforementioned coffee shop. Look, there's even a bike rack type thing to tie the dogs to. )}

[hulk]

Oh.

[ And well, then he'll just. Go and tie them up. Because that's handy. ]

Okay, n- Stay. Stay. Don't do anything crazy.

[trickshot]

_{( clint's more than content to let him deal with that as he goes inside, sits down in a booth, and orders a coffee. the people at this place seem to know him; he even gets a smile from a waitress who asks, slyly, where the missus is. )}

[hulk]

[ Once he's sure they won't go and like. Maim each other or break their leashes or do anything but flop all over each other like they do, Bruce follows inside and.

For lack of knowing anybody else in the place and kind of coming in with the guy.

Slides in opposite of Clint. He orders a tea once the waitress brings over the coffee and hears another missus comment. ]

...Didn't know you were married.

[trickshot]

_{( he grins at the waitress, but when bruce comments his expression grows decidedly more somber. he shrugs, waving an idle hand. )}

Technically, I was. The 'till death do you part clause is pretty strict.

But we're both here, and we're together. So calling it that again just seems easiest.

[hulk]

So. [ b l i n k ] W- You actually went and. D- You were. ...Dead? Th-

[ He is torn between "CRAZY REALITY IS CRAZY" and "HOW THE HELL DOES THAT EVEN WORK". Very, very torn. ]

Ah. I mean, you could get re-married all over again, but. Yeah, that. Seems easier, so.

[trickshot]

_{( he looks down at his thumbs for about a minute, then just rolls his eyes. )}

Yeah, well. Occupational hazard of doing what I do is that you run into alien spaceships and crazy witches and kids who can alter reality, from time to time. I wouldn't recommend it, though. _{( the dying, not the heroing. )}

But you get to a point where you just kinda roll with it. Same way I handle this place, too, I guess.

[hulk]

...I can see why not.

[ Yeah, he's taking it you mean the other thing. Sorry. ]

Considering the only other option to go completely batty going and trying to figure things out. Yeah.

[ Oh, hey. It's tea showing up right in here. Sip. ]

[trickshot]

Thinking too much's never been my problem. _{( he looks at bruce pointedly. because it is probably his. )}

'Sides, you can't change it that way. I used to spend a bunch of time worrying over the how's and why's of how me and Bobbi both came back and what we were, now, but in the end it wasn't important.

[hulk]

That's not my biggest problem, okay, th- It's easily beat out by. Other, very obvious things. [ the lack of thinking is definitely a problem on your end, clint, just saying ]

Mm. [ a thoughtful pause ] Least you got her. All that really matters, right?

[trickshot]

Whatever you say, Banner. <sub>( still not looking convinced.

but then he just huffs a bit and runs a hand through his hair. )</sub>

Yeah. That's all that matters. Though she might disagree, sometimes.

[hulk]

[ Hulk is totally higher up on the problematic measuring stick, okay. ...Or any measuring stick.

But fine. Whatever. ]

What, she wants to go through the whole-- You know. Wedding deal again?

[trickshot]

Ha! Hell no. _{( that's not as humorous as he intends it to be. )}

She's the one who's against it. I just... don't think it just being the two of us is enough. There's a whole world--worlds--out there.

[hulk]

[ It takes him a couple of minutes to figure it out and. ]

O-oh, you're. You were talking about, l- Kids? Or.

[trickshot]

_{( and then clint literally spit his drink )}

What? No. I just meant--we're part of a team--and being here together is nice and all, but it's not--the point is...

The point is we can't just start a new life here and forget everything else.