homeless forever.

[payitgladly]

I don't think you have thought this through very well. It's not good to do things in a rush. I mean, you didn't even make this username for me.

[ Sheepish laughter. ]

Look, I'm not an easy guy to play because [ vague handwave ] you know. There's so much research for you to do that you haven't even started. So it's really better to give up before you start and let me go home.

[ Pause, and he doesn't say: I actually want to see Stark tower. ]

Comments

[like_a_gerbil]

Some of the best things we get aren't easy, Mr. Banner. The fact that your mundane's willing to try says a lot about the situation. About both of you, actually.

[Pausing, he lets out a sheepish laugh of his own.] Um...Of the two of us, I think I've probably got the worse user name.

[payitgladly]

Aha. I hope so, really. [ Well, one good thing has come out of it. He gets to meet Betty again. That's always a 8D thing.

Then he blinks. ]

... I don't understand your username. [ Peers. ]

[like_a_gerbil]

[Slowly, Steve begins to grin. No matter how much he might act like the username was embarrassing, part of him is proud of the reminder of who he'd been when he was chosen for the program.]

It's from before they gave me the serum. They only kept me around as one of the volunteers 'cause they figured I might be useful to Doctor Erskine. Like a lab rat or - [For a second, he wonders if Bruce is expecting him to grow fur or whiskers.] - a gerbil.

[payitgladly]

[ Pause, and then Bruce nods a little. He cracks a small smile, though really- the serum's kind of a sore spot, because uh. That's how he got into trouble in the first place, even though it's not Steve's fault in the slightest. ]

Most gerbils don't turn out to be great soldiers, though.

[like_a_gerbil]

They don't, but I know that I need to remember who I was before I got taller.

[He understands how the serum would be a difficult subject for Bruce, especially knowing what had happened to the other people who had either tried the earlier versions or had tried to recreate it.]

Bruce, I don't know if this would help or not, but Doctor Erskine told me some things about the serum before he gave it to me.