#for the sake of grounding these designs they incorporated Every detail you could ask for

[sirenemale]

everything abt the httyd remake feels like such a deep insult to the first film. Insulting animation as an artform, insulting the texture and lighting work that still holds up so so well. Insulting everything they put in to make it such a tightly written and skillful film. Like what could you improve with this scene, the amount of character you get from toothless here and seeing his thought process, fhe mix of accepting his fate, weariness and curiosity, you're just sucking the life and intention out of it for what. To see the dirt in between toothless's scales? Guess what you can already see that in the first movie. To flatten the lighting, remove all mood so you can see how good they modeled his new scales? Show you how real the mulch looks. Whatever. They do this all the time but this is personal (autism) you're being shown up by a film from 2010. She is eating you ALIVE. Even the other httyd films couldn't quite re-capture what they did with toothless in this first one, they remodeled him ever so slightly and he lost that edge of intelligent Animal, and became a Slightly more condensed version of himself now that his personality was established.

[goofygomez]

An analysis of The Last of Us Part II and its themes

I’ve seen a lot of people share their experience with playing The Last of Us Part II, and it’s safe to say most of it has been largely negative. It’s no secret this might be one of the most divisive games of all time, and it will probably stay that way for a long time after. I personally adored this game. I believe this is the masterpiece of masterpieces, and it’s the only game to ever top the emotions I felt when playing the first game, although I will say in terms of raw story (with nothing else like gameplay to support it) the first game is still a bit higher on the list for me.

But for all intents and purposes, when considering all aspects of this game, I think this is the single greatest accomplishment in game design and storytelling I’ve ever seen in a video game. That being said, I would like to try and respond to some of the criticisms this game has gotten, and furthermore, I’d like to try and analyze some of the themes I noticed when playing the game. Keep in mind this is MY opinion, and should not be taken as fact. This is just my experience, and I’ll respect yours one way or the other.

Take this as a MAJOR WARNING that there will be spoilers for both games in this post.

With that, let’s start with the common criticisms:

1.       “They killed Joel for no damn reason. He deserved better.” This is an easy one to tackle. For one, Joel most definitely did not deserve better. Even though we might love him for being the first game’s MC and have grown attached to him, there’s no way we can or should look past the fact that he, Joel, is a bad man. He even says himself in the first game that he and Tommy did some questionable things to survive in the 20 years between the outbreak and even during the events of TLOU. While he may be perceived as the hero of the franchise, when you look at his rap sheet, you start to notice he’s not so great after all. Take the ending of TLOU as the most glaring example, where Joel has been told Ellie must die in order for the Fireflies to develop a vaccine. His first and only reaction is to kill every single Firefly he sees and murder the surgeon who would have killed his “baby girl”. Would I have done any different in his shoes? Probably not, but that’s the beauty of the first game. Its ending and the ambiguity of Joel’s morality given his actions is one of the driving forces that make the first game so spectacular and why it’s still being discussed 7 years later. Now let’s talk about the second point to this criticism: “He died for no reason”. If you recall, the people who killed him were former Fireflies, one of which (Abby) was the daughter of the surgeon whom Joel unceremoniously killed. In their eyes, they had every right to go after Joel. Like Anthony Caliber, one of the best TLOU speedrunners, said in one of his recent livestreams, “Joel signed his own death sentence when he killed Marlene and the surgeon back at the hospital in TLOU1”. While it may seem overly zealous to us as players who have grown to love Joel, if the roles had been reversed would you not do the same? Would you not want revenge for the killing of your father? And isn’t that exactly what Ellie is doing in this game, which most players justify in this hatred of Abby?

2.       “Joel was out of character in giving out his name and trusting strangers. They dumbed him down for the sake of plot.” As I recall, Joel literally gave Henry and Sam his name and followed them out to their hideout barely 30 seconds after meeting them and beating the shit out of Henry. Joel may be an untrusting person at heart but he always does so with reason. The most common reason people give of this is “He didn’t trust the guy asking for help in Pittsburg and ran him over so why trust Abby and her gang”. First of all, that was literally the one situation Joel had already been on the other side of, and knew perfectly well it was rehearsed. On the flipside, he and Tommy had just saved Abby and literally mention there’s no other way to go other than with her because there’s a huge blizzard and a herd was after them. And especially now, after Joel has been living in Jackson for 4 years now and has been living comfortably in a community very obviously open to new people. Abby’s group gave them no reason to distrust them, and giving out his name, in any other situation, would have made no difference in the outcome. It was just unfortunate they happened to be after him.

3.       “I hate playing as Abby, why are they trying to make me sympathize with her?” That’s the whole point, they’re not. The entire game, you keep rooting for Ellie to find and kill this woman who wronged you, and when you’re forced to play as her, you’re understandably angry. You’re upset, and you feel you have to slog through this seemingly endless section of the game. But as you keep playing, much like I did, you start seeing the other side of the story. Abby is not the villain the game paints her out to be when she killed Joel. She’s another human being with human emotions and a very real reason to hate Joel and to want him dead. As I said before, Abby is doing exactly what Ellie eventually does after Abby kills Joel.

4.       “Why would Ellie go through all that effort to not kill Abby in the end?” I will touch on this in the analysis of the themes, but simply put, it was about breaking cycles.

Now I’d like to start defending how and why I believe this is a masterpiece by first taking a look at one of the admittedly less touched upon parts: gameplay. This aspect usually takes a step back when it comes to narrative-based games, and it is obviously not the most resounding part of this game, but it is clearly not taking a back seat either. The flow of both combat and mellower scenarios in this particular game is astounding. When battling opponents, the AI feels like one of the most intelligent I’ve ever seen in a video game. The way the enemies communicate between each other, telling the others when the player is out of ammo or when they’re flanking to create much more nuanced fight sequences, coupled with the expanded worlds Naughty Dog has come up with to create a seamless experience when fighting hordes of enemies without it feeling stale or repetitive, is one of the most immersive gaming experiences I’ve ever had. Each encounter feels unique and challenging in some ways you may not have felt before in the game, and by the end you’re so immersed in that feeling that going through the Santa Barbara group (to me, at least) was almost automatic and I could see so many different options for me to approach each situation as it came my way.

Likewise, Naughty Dog have managed to turn the puzzle solving from the first game, where you simply had to find a dumpster to step on or a door to open with a shiv, and incorporate the environment and world into it, finding clever ways to get over obstacles without simply having a step-up ladder be the end of it. The mechanics that went into the rope puzzles, breaking windows to get to previously unexplored territory (which is admittedly not new in gaming, but still a cool concept to add to the franchise) paired together with so many more new little features to bring the world they created to life, and bring you into it as well.

As always, and as was the case with the first one, you can’t talk about The Last of Us without talking about the soundtrack. The haunting score created by the masterful mind of Gustavo Santaolalla, a fellow Argentinean like me, brought to life some of the most heart-wrenching moments and the most beautiful ones as well, in a way that can only be achieved with amazing sound design and music. The main theme song, which is a sort of homage to the one from the first, takes a much darker approach, choosing instead to focus on the bass and that resounding low voice in the background, setting the tone for the rest of the game: a much darker, grittier, and grounded experience that will pull no punches. Santaolalla managed to create a score that mimics the first one in melody and rhythm, while succeeding in mirroring it to create a more dissonant accompaniment to the gruesome story you’re brutally killing your way through.

Another aspect of the game that deserves all the praise it gets, and one that people seem to at least be in consensus about, is the graphics and animation design. I can safely say this is hands down the most beautiful, gorgeous, astounding, breathtaking game I’ve ever laid my eyes upon, and that might not be enough adjectives to fully encapsulate how I feel about the graphics in this game. One can argue all day about the morality of the characters in the game or the balance between right and wrong that Naughty Dog so masterfully plays with in the story, but one thing is for sure: The graphics design team deserves so much credit for actually bringing the story and the characters we know and love to such vivid life. You can see it in the little things, like the veins in Joel’s arm as he plays “Future Days” by Pearl Jam and the facial expressions Ellie can make if you stand in front of a mirror during the museum flashback; you can also see it in the larger things, like the jaw-dropping backdrops that range from a beautiful mountain range in the snow to the downtown Seattle skyline. No moment will be wasted by stopping your pace to just admire the absolutely gorgeous view you’re presented with every time you enter a new game world. The attention to detail in animation is also not lacking at all, with so many little actions being given special treatment as we see Ellie patch herself up and still having the actual bandage over her arm instead of disappearing like any other game, or the way Ellie’s fingers perfectly (and correctly) play chords without resorting to generic hand gestures. You can see the love and care the developers have for this game in every tiny crack in the game that simply takes your breath away and that sometimes you won’t even see from the vastness of the world around you.

And finally, the story. It is definitely a divisive story, and Neil Druckmann did warn us it would be. There were times, namely the moment they switched the POV to show me the first 3 days from Abby’s perspective, when I was genuinely wondering what the hell they were thinking. My faith in Naughty Dog never wavered, though. I kept playing because I thought, “There must be some reasoning for this.” And to my greatest relief, it finally clicked for me a few hours into Abby’s section. Namely, the moment where she meets Lev and Yara, two Seraphites that defected after the former shaved his head. At first, it seemed weird that they would be cast out for such a stupid reason, but then you start to get to know them, and you understand the real reason they had to leave their religious cult. As I said before and will say again, this is a game about perspective. Up until that point, I just wanted Abby dead, albeit with some guilt since learning that it was her father Joel killed in that operating room. But seeing Abby’s willingness to help total strangers, much like Joel did at the start of the game, was what sold me on this game’s concept. The purpose of this story is to make you feel the regret and the weight of the actions you impart on the world, as you can see the carnage Ellie left in her wake during your time as Abby, seeing Abby’s friends butchered by either Ellie or Tommy, realizing they’re no different than the villains we have such tunnel vision about. The ending is something I’ll get to in the themes, but I just have to say I love the way it’s such a parallel to the first game’s ending, up to the point of divisiveness in the people who actually played and finished the game (which at the time of writing this is less than 4% of players).

Now onto the themes. One of the things people always praise about the first game, and rightfully so, is its themes and how well it portrays them through certain characters to create a cohesive and coherent story that pulls at your heartstrings and makes you root for the “heroes” of the game. This time it’s not much different, with the minor exception that this time, there are no heroes. Just like Neil Druckmann said many times during the development of Part II, “While the first game was about love, this game is about hate”, which is one of the main themes.

1.       Hatred: I can safely say there have been very few times of my gaming life where I’ve been so viscerally angry (in a “good” way) while playing a video game as I have as I tore down through countless enemies that got in the way of me and my target. This game will let out the worst parts of you in ways you can’t even imagine, and will make you take a look at the way we glorify violence in video games without the usual preachy tone of “video games cause violence”. Like I said before, this is a game that mirrors the first one while paying homage to its themes. To take a page out of Abby’s book, it’s like a coin. There are always two sides to it. On the one hand, the first game’s main theme was love, and how loss and grief can be overcome with it with the proper care and time. The Last of Us Part II shows us the uglier side of human nature, which is anger, despair and a natural desire for revenge (another theme). Both games show us the natural progression of a grieving person, but both of them take wildly different approaches. Granted, we don’t know how brutal and vicious Joel was right after losing Sarah, but it’s safe to assume he was nothing short of a monster, which eventually didn’t really help in dealing with that loss until he found love and hope in a little girl whose safety was now his utmost responsibility. In Ellie’s case, she’s still in that first stage. Ellie as a character has always been reckless and foolhardy, and her actions in this game are a testament of how well Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross know their characters. The entire game, right up until the final moments where she’s about to finish Abby off, her actions are fueled by a rage and desire to exert justice onto those who’ve wronged her. In other words, she’s looking for revenge.

2.       Revenge: Both main characters have at least one thing in common, and it is their desire to avenge their father/father figure. I truly believe that Joel’s death was not only justified (from a storytelling perspective) but also crucial to the development of a sequel that both enhanced the world of The Last of Us while building onto it with new ideals and perspectives. The idea this time is definitely not one we haven’t seen before in so many other mediums: “Revenge is bad and is never worth it��� Seems trivial to even suggest it when we all know the outcome, but The Last of Us Part II manages to not only build upon the idea that revenge is a double-edged sword, but it also manages to balance the perspectives within that cycle to attempt to explore the psyche of the characters we’ve put into the boxes of “hero” and “villain”. And subsequently, they manage to break that characterization by showing us both sides of the aforementioned coin to see, in no unclear terms, that the consequences of our actions when dealing with vengeance always circle back to expose the nastiest side of our nature. It stands to reason that we, as the player, would at first be on board with Ellie “finding and killing every last one of them”, and demonizing Abby for not only killing but torturing possibly one of the most beloved characters in gaming history. We want her dead. We want her to suffer for the crime she’s committed. Yet, in our quest for vengeance and justice, would we not be succumbing to the same cycle that brought Abby to killing Joel in the first place? Did she not think, from her perspective, that she was entirely justified in killing the man who had not only destroyed the one chance humanity had against the Cordyceps, but also murdered her father in cold blood? Are we not the same as Abby for wanting her dead after she kills one of our own? When does it end? And that’s the real question. This whole thing, the lust for revenge that can only be quenched with cold-blooded murder, is just another facet to our complex and grey morality as human beings. It’s natural for us to feel angry and upset at this, and I believe all the hatred people give this game that stems from it forcing you to play as Abby is the exact nature the game is trying to bring out of us and show to us in a mirror.

3.       Cycles: While this may not be such an obvious catch as the first two, it’s still very much ingrained in the inner workings of this game’s narrative and how both characters view the world according to their reality and perspective. The concept of revenge, as stated above, is a repetitive one. One that causes cycles and events to repeat themselves if left unchecked, and The Last of Us Part II plays with these masterfully. Starting the game with a heartbreaking moment and setting the dark tone for the rest of the game is what starts the first part of this cycle, which is Ellie wanting to avenge Joel’s death, much like Abby avenged her father’s death after 4 years of despair, planning, and training. Ellie’s desire to kill Abby is what leads her down the path we would characterize, were she some random character and not the main one of the franchise, as the villain’s route, going down a dark path that prompts her to mindlessly and mercilessly slaughtering countless people whose names you hear from their friends’ mouths when you kill them, to the point where you end up getting to Abby’s closest friends and companions and murdering them too, not unlike Abby murdered Joel. It is a sobering feeling to realize the character you most love and root for is, in the eyes of the other main character, as much of a villain (if not more) as we as players make Abby out to be. It is at the end of the game, which a lot of players had qualms about, where Ellie is beating Abby within an inch of her life that she realizes this is not worth it. Killing Abby will not bring Joel back, and will certainly not bring her any satisfaction, as showcased by how traumatized Ellie was after the killings of Abby’s other friends and the fact that she still kept seeing Joel’s lifeless body as she attempted to drown Abby on that coast. Then, as we are mercilessly choking the life out of her, which is yet another example of the visceral anger the game elicits from the player, we see a different memory of Joel. One of hopefulness, where Joel is playing the guitar and smiling. It is at that moment that Ellie realizes the only thing she can do now is to move on with her life and accept Joel’s death as something that happened. To add onto this realization, it’s probably good to mention that Ellie must have seen some of herself in Lev in that killing Abby would have left him (if not dead) in a state much like the one she, Ellie, was at the start of the game. Coming back to the theme of cycles, if Ellie killed Abby, what’s to stop Lev from coming after Ellie the same way she came after Abby, and so on and so forth. Both these things coupled help Ellie finally break the cycle and go back to the farm, where she’s greeted with the consequences of her actions in a more emotional and real way than the PTSD: Dina being gone and Ellie leaving her guitar behind, symbolizing her letting go of Joel’s memory and accepting her reality.

The game scares us; it scares me. It is a harrowing experience that will only get better with time and will, in my humble opinion, go down as one of the greatest games of all time for years to come. No matter the context, and no matter the medium, I wish it were easy to find such real, emotional, and powerful pieces of art as this one more often. But alas, we will have to wait and see. As someone whose name I can’t seem to remember said: “This will mark the gaming industry and divide it between ‘Before TLOU2 and After TLOU2”

[pendragonfics]

a strange fear gripped me (and i just couldn't ask)

- ̗̀  Bruce Banner Bingo 2019  ̖́-

Paring: Bruce Banner/Reader

Square filled: wedding day 

Tags: female reader, post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Happy Hogan is a Good Bro, Uncle Happy Hogan, Professor Hulk, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Beauty and the Beast Elements, Post-Canon Fix-It

Summary: At the Stark house by the lake, Morgan organises an event for her toys, inviting you and Bruce Banner along.

Word Count: 2,419

Current Date: 2019-08-14

Work Text:

As per the invitation - handwritten, with the best penmanship that her gel pen could muster - you arrived at the back porch of Pepper’s house, wearing your nice outfit. You had been tempted to just turn up in normal clothes, but she’d have said over the phone in her most grown-up voice, that “weddings were for fancy clothes!”

The fanciest thing you had on hand was a black pair of slacks and a white top. You wondered if she minded if you were in the same colour as the bride, but then again, if she was being that strict, you’d be chastised for wearing pants. When you get to the house, Happy is sat on the front porch, in his usual suit. The only thing different is he’s wearing a handmade flower crown, the circlet slightly askew upon his balding head. He checks his phone, but as you near, he gives you a wry smile.

“Welcome to the wedding,” he says. His tone is dry as ever, but the fact that he’s playing along reminds you of all the years he humoured Tony with every finicky detail. “Invitation?”

You pass him the paper and notice he has another invitation beside his feet.

“Morgan roped in another person to play marriage with?” You ask.

Happy’s smile is wry. “That sounds about right.” He laughs. “But I’m under strict instruction not to disclose the guest list.”

You roll your eyes. “It seems like we’re equally wrapped around the kid’s finger.” You smile, noticing a trail of coloured in paper confetti. “I suppose that’s the way to the event?”

“Yep,” Happy pops the p. He gives you another smile and returns his gaze to the screen in his hands. “Enjoy.”

Stepping around him, you follow the litter of crayon on torn printer paper to mimic rose petals, to the rear of the house. You’d only been to the Stark house three times; when you came to check on Tony post-snap, and pre-Morgan, for her third birthday party, and … Tony’s funeral. If it weren’t for the fact that you’d promised to Pepper to be around more, for Morgan’s sake, you’d have a hard time being on the property.

Out the back has had a little girl makeover. It doesn’t matter that she’s the kid of a billionaire and the CEO of Stark Industries, there are sheets hanging from the rafters to mimic a tent, cushions sourced from the lounge room all over the garden path, and toys on the grass in a mock arrangement.

Hell, this almost looked like it was a proper wedding.

On the lawn was a pumpkin patch doll, one of those plastic robot dogs from the early 2000’s, a handful of Ken and Barbie dolls - it almost made you wonder which of the toys were getting hitched.

“Aunt __________!” Morgan cried out, running from inside the house. She almost tripped over the threshold, but incorporating her stumble into her step, you soon had a kid torpedoing into your torso for a tight hug.

“Hey, kiddo,” you muss her hair. “What’s crackalacking?”

“You’re so weird,” she chortles. “But you’re here now! We can make it happen!”

You peel off Pepper’s daughter from your form. “I hope I haven’t made you wait too long M. Traffic was horrendous.”

She laughs again. It’s nice to hear her laugh, even though it’s been less than a year since her dad passed away. “No, we haven’t waited long! But now you’re here we can have some fun!”

You watch as she runs as quickly as she came back into the house, and obscured by the security tint window, you stay where you stand, unsure what’s happening next. A beat passes, and you glance down to a Ken doll, naked except for a pair of pink board shorts. You’re sure you had the same doll as a kid yourself. But Morgan is quick in her movements, because not a minute later, you hear gentle protesting, and see...

Oh.

It had most certainly been a hot minute since you last saw Dr Bruce Banner.

Last time you saw him, it had been in Sokovia. The last time you were an actively serving Avenger. You’d broken it off with him because you knew what he and Tony were doing with the Ultron software was reckless, and after the fight against the bots, he flew off into the sun. You vaguely remember him when you materialised for the battle against Thanos, and he looked just like this.

“You’re looking a little green, doc,” you look over his body, unsure what you’re seeing. He was both Hulk...and Banner? To be honest, he looked like a DeviantArt fan nightmare, except there was a hint of sexiness that made you question your taste and life choices. “Morgan, what -,”

“Morgan, sweetie, why is _________ here?” Green Bruce said at the same time.

“For the wedding! And now you’re both here, don’t forget to have a good time.” She says, beaming.

You quietly take a perch on one of the three lawn chairs on the right. Bruce takes the other two.

As Morgan fussed over some dolls that had fallen over, you turn to Bruce, “Want to explain to me why you’re all spinach, no puff?” You whisper.

“I’m, er, - they call me Professor Hulk.” He replies. Even though he’s built like that, his voice is still hesitant. “My physical state is an equilibrium of all parts of my psyche.”

He sounds like Bruce, and smiles like Bruce, but...he doesn’t look like Bruce at all.

You scoff quietly. “I don’t know if you’re taking constructive criticism, but -,”

The music starts up. In her small hands, Morgan holds an Iron Man helmet, a mark you recognise from one of Tony’s earlier designs. From the open mouth, it plays a wedding march, and she approaches the both of you. It would look comical, but she held it like a motorcycle helmet, beside her overalls-clad side.

“Hey, stand up!” She stage-whispers, and you and Green - no - Professor Hulk follow her instruction. Ushering you both around, she places the helmet on a chair and picks up the cabbage patch doll from the ground.

It’s only when she starts reciting some words - familiar because you’ve been to a fair few ceremonies over the years - that you realise what’s happening.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to make Aunt _________ and Uncle Bruce get married-,”

Professor Hulk’s eyes are wide. “Woah, woah, Morgan -- you can’t marry people.” He says, hands raised as if to placate the eight-year-old before you. “I - we didn’t agree to be married.”

“But it’s a wedding!” Morgan reasons. “You’re here to married.”

“Do you have a license?” You ask, bewildered.

From the pocket of her overalls, she withdraws a printed A4 sheet. “Yeah!” She passes it to you. It’s from a kid’s website, printed in pink ink that reads, in Comic Sans font, Morgan Stark is a cool girl and a cooler marriage officiant! beside the coolgirlgames dot com smiley face logo. You show the sheet to Professor Hulk, and slowly, he wipes a hand over his face. “Don’t you like it?”

“It’s a - a cool license, but Morgan, _________ and I didn’t agree to be married.”

She looks almost like she’s about to cry.

You take the silence as an opportunity to speak up. Lowering yourself to your knees, you gather Morgan in for a hug, holding her close. “Uncle Bruce is right, sweetheart. I - we might have felt the same feelings that people who get married do — but that was a long time ago, and we both changed.”

Morgan sniffs, wiping at her eyes. “But Mommy said that true love lasts forever.”

“You wanted to get married?” Professor Hulk asks you, bewildered.

You glance over your shoulder, taking him in. He looks like Hulk’s nerdy cousin, and if it weren’t for the fact that Bruce’s eyes were looking out from that face, you wouldn’t be able to recognise him.

“I would have said yes if you asked,” you mumble. “… but you never did. And then there was the whole Ultron thing, and next thing I know you’re AWOL, and -,” you feel tears pricking at your eyes. You blink them away, determined not to cry. “But like I said. People change.”

The door opens again, and Pepper Potts steps out. She’s always been a strong woman, and even in her own home, she’s wearing an LBD and heels, her crisp strawberry blonde hair ironed to perfection. All of this you notice in a fraction of a second, because her façade is broken when she sees her daughter, crying in your arms.

“Oh my goodness Morgan, you-,” she takes the scene in, dismounting the porch toward her daughter. Pepper’s heels wobble on the path, and Morgan flies into her arms. “I thought this was for your toys, I said -,”

“But they love each other,” Morgan pleads, sniffing.

Pepper leads her daughter inside, perhaps to give her a stern talking-to. You wondered briefly if you had made the incident worse, but those thoughts were dashed as soon as you felt a hand upon your shoulder. Looking up, you take him in. At this angle, you feel as if you’re Morgan; Professor Hulk towers taller than the average adult, taller than the lofty Pepper Potts. Looking at him, you feel dwarfed, like a deer in the headlights. Bruce should know better than to be a fusion of Hulk around you; you had such a good relationship with the green guy, and you missed him.

“Don’t look at me like that,” you plead, shrugging off his hand.

“You wanted to marry me?” Bruce’s voice crackles.

But you don’t answer him. It’s hard to, because your mind is racing, and your blood is running so fast that you can hear it in your ears, rushing around. You go to leave, but once again, Professor Hulk’s hand holds you back.

“Let me go.”

“_________-,”

“You don’t get to turn up and act like it’s okay to resume where we left off!” you raise your voice, wrenching your arm from his grip. But it’s tight, with all the strength that you remember the Hulk having. “You don’t get to just say that and act like you’re still in a relationship. Because I spent years searching for you. I did not stop. Do you know how fucking hard it was, feeling like a failure? And when I hung my boots up, you’re back on Earth, just to fight Thanos and muck around with your - your biology when that fails.”

If you were a cartoon, you’re sure that your ears would be smoking.

He lets go of your arm. You turn, pacing like a wild beast.

“I wasn’t sure how to say those things,” Professor Hulk whispers, “that you loved-,”

“I still love you, you idiot!” you yell.

You hear a silence fall across the lake house. From inside, where you’re sure that Pepper is trying to console her daughter, and Happy has perhaps moved out of earshot. The forest is silent, the wind dropping off. There’s no birdsong. There’s just the words that came from your mouth, echoing in both of your ears.

I still love you, you idiot!

You wipe a hand over your forehead, shocked that those words came out. Pinching at the bridge of your nose, you compose yourself, readying yourself to face Professor Hulk, and what he has to say to your outburst. But there’s a small part of yourself holding back. That can’t do it. Because that part is the lovestruck little person, the voice that made you search all of space and time and everything in between for the man you lost following Sokovia.

“_________,” he whispers.

“I - I’ve got to go,” you shake your head. But there isn’t a bone in your body that wants to move. You don’t move an inch, can’t move an inch, aren’t sure you ever will move an inch. “Bruce -,”

He gathers you in his arms.

It’s then you melt. You fold into his arms like a spool of cotton candy into a puddle, and he scoops you in, holding you tight. His smell is confusing, and yet, it’s the comfort of Hulk’s arms around you with Bruce’s temperament that feels like…home.

You look up; his neck craned toward yours, hesitant.

And almost like there hasn’t been any time lost between you both, you give in. Upon the balls of your feet, you reach up as far as you can, and, as soft as ever, your lips brush his cheek.

The strangest thing is, you don’t believe in miracles, or true love. That was just a story. You’d trained alongside Sam Wilson in the military, and with every gruelling day of work, there was no silver lining. Especially when Riley died. There was only the next day, and the day after that, and after the funeral, you filed for release from service.

It was a fluke that you were at Sam’s meeting the same day that the Captain America swung by. It happened to be a coincidence that you and Sam were able to help him, and Ms Romanov, with the HYDRA infestation within their government agency. It was chance that you and Sam were enlisted into the Avengers Initiative. It had been the best luck that you met Bruce Banner while training Upstate…and the worst luck that soon after, he disappeared into space.

And right now, before you, there was another sort of miracle, a moment that any other person in their life wouldn’t believe to be happening.

As Professor Hulk stood before you, there was a quirk, just like when you first encountered Hulk in his de-Hulking stage. You’re not sure how it happened, but with a ripple of skin, the shifting of his skeleton, and crackling of bone, Professor Hulk was getting smaller, less green, and more -

“I - What happened to me?” he says.

You can’t believe your eyes. Because just where Professor Hulk, a mix of both Bruce Banner and the gamma radiated creature within, was just standing, is now Bruce. Just Bruce. His clothes are too big, and his glasses too, and swimming in his clothes, he looks to you, unsure of what just happened.

“I’m sorry?” you supplement.

Morgan bursts out from the house, her once-teary face transformed into something of pure joy. “You’re Uncle Bruce again!” she cries out, jubilant. “It worked! It worked!”

You blink. “Oh, honey - Morgan, this was a coincidence, not -,”

“It was true love’s kiss!”