as long as i’m a guest in your home

[clobberin]

WHO: Bruce "It's Not Easy Being Green" Banner and Ben "Nerd Whisperer" Grimm.
WHERE: Bruce's place.
WHEN: Friday evening.
WARNINGS: Derps.
SUMMARY: Bros being bros.
FORMAT: Quickie.


[ Benjamin Grimm had not called ahead. Or asked permission. Nope. Not this time. This time, he figured he knew well enough that Bruce's answer would probably start with an "um", come around to a "I'm fine" and end up reliably on a "no." Obviously the man needed a crash course in how to accept friendship. Being Bros 101.

So, Ben grabbed some Chinese take-out and a six pack, headed over to Bruce's place, knocked and waited. ]

Comments

[clobberin]

[ Nope. You're not gettin' away with that, Bruce. Ben doesn't even miss a beat, just putting a pair of chopsticks in one of Bruce's hands and pushing about three of the boxes towards his half of the table. ]

Well.

[ He takes a little breath. ]

My best buddy, Reed Richards? He was doin' some kinda science stuff with this alternate dimension-- the N-Zone-- and he was supposed to be doin' this big experiment, so I came down to support him. It was me and him, plus his uh-- [ A half-beat. ] Suzie. Suzie Storm, and her brother, Johnny.

Anyway. Long story short, everythin' went to shit, and we all got teleported all over the planet. And we got changed. When they found me, I was big, orange, and stuck in friggin' Mexico.

[hulk]

[ ...Oh. Well then. He looks between his hand, the food, and Ben a few times, then slowly takes a couple of pieces of sesame chicken. Or he was going to until-- ]

...You're. Richards is your best buddy? [ (unsure)........ ] Th- Oh.

[ a w k w a r d because Ben is actually a nice person? As opposed to Reed. TELL ME I'M WRONG ]

But. Yeah, everything going to, you know. Sounds familiar.

[clobberin]

[ Yeeeah, Ben senses your unsure there, Bruce. He can always tell when somebody from the City has met Reed, 'cause the response is basically always the same. A nice way of putting it would be to say that Reed's a bit unpopular with the crowd here. And it isn't that Ben doesn't see why-- it's just that he's sure (he hopes) that the Reed he knows and loves is still in there somewhere.

He exhales. Settles deeper into the couch cushions. ]

He's really not all that bad. Reed, I mean.

[hulk]

[ dasfawieklf urk ]

No, n- I'm sure that. He's... An okay guy. Really.

[ Maybe.

Shoving food in his mouth to avoid talking ohgod. ]

[clobberin]

[ There's an affectionate sort of wryness to Ben's voice. ]

You don't gotta pretend, y'know. It ain't gonna hurt my feelings if you don't like him. I get it-- Reed's sorta an acquired taste.

[hulk]

Oh. [ Chokes down his dumplings then. ] ...Then no offense, but he's really kind of creepy. Or has been with me. Which usually I'd just write off as it being me, but. Apparently it's-- Not.

[ Awkward. Oh, hey - paying attention to the game. ]