♞ for something that my muse wants to do
Bruce’s wants are not something that matters, really. His entire life has been made up of things he wants that he can’t have.
Once upon a time, he’d have liked to have married a girl named Betty. Had a family, raise a few kids and treat them better than his own father treated him. He’d have liked to grow old arguing over whether or not the episode of Jeopardy! on TV was a rerun or if Bruce was really just that smart.
Die peacefully, in his sleep.
There are things that Bruce Banner wants to do that will never, ever happen. And that’s just the way it is.
♟ for something my muse admires
Whenever the weight and wear of his life, of living with the Other Guy, grows too heavy for Bruce, he likes to travel to Egypt and stand and the foot of a pyramid.
Banner knows all too well that the Hulk may never die; that he is as unstoppable and self-sustaining as any force of nature. The physicist can see a future stretching out before him that is endless and suffocating at once.
But… when he looks up at the pyramids, these marvels of engineering and manpower, created thousands of years before Christians nailed some man to a cross…. Bruce cannot help but be astounded, every time. He absorbs the evidence of generations before him and he feels small in a way that has nothing to do with being a hostage to a rabid green gamma reactor.
He marvels at the wonder that is the human race.
☂ for something my muse wants to protect
For the most part, Bruce has come to the conclusion that nothing is safe from the Other Guy.
Even if the Hulk doesn’t (by some miracle) accidentally cause injury to anyone or anything Banner holds dear, the threat he poses attracts violence. Hulkbusters, A.I.M., Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D., The Leader, and innumerable others are all anxious to get their hands on the Other Guy’s unique biology. And they are willing to punish anyone they have to in order to get that chance.
So Bruce tries not to care, not to make connections or attachments. Doing so will only make it harder when he has to leave. Because Protecting what’s important to Bruce means walking away from it. And staying away, no matter the cost.
{ except when they won’t let him stay away }
♨ for something that relaxes my muse
Bruce is quite certain that S.H.I.E.L.D. had an entire file dedicated to “Bruce Banner’s Relaxation."
Mostly, it’s be filled with data about prescription drugs and high-grade tranquilizers that frankly do not work on the Other Guy.
But, if anyone other than Tony has been paying attention, there might also be a note referencing a tiny cabin in northwest Alaska. Nothing special, just a two room log affair hidden deep in woods filled with grizzly bears and little else. The cabin sits near the bank of a river that cuts like a ribbon through the forest. And in the spring, the Salmon as so plentiful as to leap into a man's hands... if he were there to see it.