"I've always been on SHIELD's radar. Good or bad doesn't really make a lot of difference."
Bruce has been quietly reading Phil as much as he can, letting his words sink in, that Doctor Banner and the unfamiliar air to the way he talks about the other guy. It's definitely news he needs to accept slowly, let it wash over him and let it hurt until he can tell himself it's okay. Okay. He knew this was a possibility, and here it is, and that's just how it is. The urge to run swells up, but only for a few moments before it's gone again. Clint won't leave him. Even if Phil is ready to have something with Clint again, Clint wouldn't abandon Bruce. It's rare for him to be that convinced of something, especially when it comes to someone's chance of happiness with someone else, but after everything they went through, he just knows -- he and Clint are in this together now.
And Phil too. Bruce will just have to insinuate himself back into Phil's life. So there's no point in feeling so crushed, Banner. There's just no point at all, so cut that out right now. Phil's alive. That's the most important thing.
"She's the one who told us where to find you." Well, Clint, but he thinks of himself and Clint as a unit now and doesn't want to censor that for Phil's sake. He pulls his shirt on as he comes around the bed and moves toward them both, his arms itching to pull them both to him and just hold them. He holds off.
"And what you've missed..." He trails off, his eyes drifting to Clint. How are they going to break this news? Any of it? "It's hard to know where to start, really. How are you feeling -- both of you? Were either of you hurt?" Clint. He gives him a hard look and then sweeps his eyes more carefully over Clint's body before doing the same to Phil's.
He's also not so subtly shifting the burden of Phil's question onto Clint. Whoops? But the way he sees it is that if Phil really doesn't remember who Bruce is, then whatever he has to say won't mean as much than if it comes from Clint. What it comes down to actually is Bruce's continued feelings of being the third wheel in something that he shouldn't have been getting into, but all of that's way more complicated now that there's Arkham between them all. He doesn't know where or how to begin to figure it out. He can handle making sure they're both in one piece, though.
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Bruce has been quietly reading Phil as much as he can, letting his words sink in, that Doctor Banner and the unfamiliar air to the way he talks about the other guy. It's definitely news he needs to accept slowly, let it wash over him and let it hurt until he can tell himself it's okay. Okay. He knew this was a possibility, and here it is, and that's just how it is. The urge to run swells up, but only for a few moments before it's gone again. Clint won't leave him. Even if Phil is ready to have something with Clint again, Clint wouldn't abandon Bruce. It's rare for him to be that convinced of something, especially when it comes to someone's chance of happiness with someone else, but after everything they went through, he just knows -- he and Clint are in this together now.
And Phil too. Bruce will just have to insinuate himself back into Phil's life. So there's no point in feeling so crushed, Banner. There's just no point at all, so cut that out right now. Phil's alive. That's the most important thing.
"She's the one who told us where to find you." Well, Clint, but he thinks of himself and Clint as a unit now and doesn't want to censor that for Phil's sake. He pulls his shirt on as he comes around the bed and moves toward them both, his arms itching to pull them both to him and just hold them. He holds off.
"And what you've missed..." He trails off, his eyes drifting to Clint. How are they going to break this news? Any of it? "It's hard to know where to start, really. How are you feeling -- both of you? Were either of you hurt?" Clint. He gives him a hard look and then sweeps his eyes more carefully over Clint's body before doing the same to Phil's.
He's also not so subtly shifting the burden of Phil's question onto Clint. Whoops? But the way he sees it is that if Phil really doesn't remember who Bruce is, then whatever he has to say won't mean as much than if it comes from Clint. What it comes down to actually is Bruce's continued feelings of being the third wheel in something that he shouldn't have been getting into, but all of that's way more complicated now that there's Arkham between them all. He doesn't know where or how to begin to figure it out. He can handle making sure they're both in one piece, though.