R Bruce Banner

They had spent the better part of the last week getting settled.

The place was clean, aired out and dusted. The linen was all clean and there was actual food in the kitchen, not just emergency supplies.

Bruce had spent time exploring around them, judging where they were, how far out, how safe it was for all three of them to be out in the forest, because if there was something he had learned, it was that letting Hulk out on a regular basis was actually better for keeping him under control and relatively calm.

But, it wasn't just him at risk now. So he came to find Jarvis, already wearing Hulk's pants (thank the heavens for Stark fabrication facilities) and his own clothing over the top. "Jarvis? I have a proposal."

Bruce ran.

It was what he did, when it became too dark, or too light, or too much like caring or too much like a pain that never quite moved out of solar plexus except to crawl up his throat and choke him.

When it was too much like being out of control, he ran, because he could control where he went and he could control who he let see him. And these days, different than ever, he could hear the rumbles of the Other Guy, not just mindless fury and rage but a broken dialogue of life as seen by something impossibly young and old and unknowing.

He didn't boot his laptop up for a month. It was out of power and he didn't want to know about the outside world, his inside world was too upset and unsettled to risk letting the outside world in there as well.

It was somewhere in Northern Sweden, when the sun barely crawled above the horizon and it was so cold that it numbed down the anger that he was able to bring himself to open up his laptop. He deleted all emails from Tony; he couldn't face Tony's need and screaming, out of control emotions and burning bright and fast life. Steve emails went the same way, the perfect example of everything that was wrong with Bruce, perfect kindness and caring and brilliant, glowing self.

He didn't load any news up. He didn't want to know. Couldn't face that.

And without Jarvis scanning for Tony, looking, watching, calculating... he logged into one of the science sites, using his alternative id, the one Tony hadn't paid for, the one he'd used when Mr Green was his only contact with the developed world.

Jarvis had probably known it. But that didn't feel like an issue any more.