The Soulmate Mark (Bruce Banner/The Hulk)

8

Edited 7/8/22
Edited 9/30/22

Bruce POV

"Sally." She shakes my hand and the burning of my soul mark finally stops. I've been fighting off the Hulk for over 30 minutes just because he could feel our soulmate in the room.

She's beautiful to say the least. She has brown eyes that remind me of milk chocolate. Her smile brightens the whole room. I'm the calmest I've ever been. All because of her.

My soulmate.

My Sally.

It's true, I was nervous about meeting my soulmate. For awhile, I never wanted to feel the tingle. But now, I can never imagine lettering her go. The Hulk is calm. That was my biggest fear. I don't want him to hurt her. The Hulk growls at my thoughts.

"Hulk no hurt mate." I hear him grunt in the back of my mind.

"So..." I scratch the back of my neck. This is awkward.

"So..." She repeats. The awkward moment is disrupted however, when Steve and a distressed Tony come up to us.

"Hey, Bruce. Do you mind taking a look at Tony and making sure he's okay?"

"I'm fine. No need to go all doc on me big guy." Tony tries to reassure me, but he looks pretty distraught.

"Yeah, sure thing." I reply to Steve before turning back to Sally. "Do you want to come with us? You can wait in the community kitchen if you want; maybe we can talk over coffee after?"

"Y-yeah. I'd like that." She blushes and looks down at her phone. I hear someone whistle at us when we start to walk towards the elevator. I turn to look behind me and see Rose, Nat and Clint's soulmate, smiling at Sally and winking at her.

Do they know each other?

~Elevator Music~

Sally waits outside the lab while I check on Tony.

"What happened Tony?" I ask, even though I have a pretty good idea. This is a common thing ever since Steve told Tony about their other soul mate. He squeezes Steve's hand before explaining.

"I was talking to Sally about soulmates." My head snaps up from the tablet. He chuckles then continues, "I mentioned how Steve and I put off being with each other because he's an idiot." Steve looks at him offended and slaps Tony's arm. "I also mentioned Bucky and then I started having my usual panic attack." His voice cracks at the end and my heart breaks for him. Even though I just met Sally, I couldn't imagine the pain of losing her. Tony didn't even get to meet Bucky, but Steve has shown him pictures, videos, and told him stories about Bucky from the 1940s.

"Shh. It's okay, baby. Just breathe." Steve says as he pulls Tony into his arms and rubs a hand through his hair. "He's at rest now. Bucky is at peace. He's okay." He continues in a soothing voice. He turns to look at me and I get the message.

I walk out so they can be alone for now. I see Sally standing over at the coffee machine trying to figure it out.

"Hey." I say and she jumps. "Sorry." I chuckle at her scared expression. "It's voice activated." I tell her then say "Jarvis? Coffee please."

"As you wish Science Boyfriend." I look at her wide eyed when Jarvis uses one of Tony's many nicknames for me. She gives me a look of betrayal before raising an eyebrow at me.

"It's just a nickname from T-Tony. It's not a big deal and there is nothing between us. I'm definitely not his boyfriend or anything."

She looks relieved until...

"You wound me Brucie Bear. I thought we had something special." Tony says as he walks into the kitchen wiping tears from his eyes. He comes up to me and wraps his arm around my shoulder before planting a kiss on my cheek. I push him off quickly and wipe my cheek with my sleeve. Gross.

Tony laughs and Sally looks down at the floor.

This is awkward.

Then, I hear somewhere in the distance, Jarvis saying, "Sexy Capsicle, Sir is acting up again."