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The motorcycle sped down the interstate, its bright red and gold custom paint job glistening in the afternoon sun. Bruce had his arms wrapped tightly around Tony’s middle. He was surprised, amazed really, at how quickly Tony had caught on to the basics of riding a motorcycle. He’d gotten a perfect score on his written test, and after a bit of trial and error riding on the grounds of the compound on his custom-designed bike, was on his first ride on the open road with Bruce as his supervising passenger.
“Hungry?” shouted Tony, the question muffled a bit by his helmet.
“Sure,” Bruce called back. “Any ideas?”
“I know a pizza place in the next town.”
“Sounds good.”
Unfortunately, they would not make it to the pizza place that day.
On their way around a long, blind curve in the highway, they were suddenly confronted by an oncoming car making an illegal pass. Tony swerved to avoid a collision, but lost control of the motorcycle. There was no time to react or do anything to avoid a fall. Just before they hit the ground, something deep inside Bruce caused him to instinctively lean forward to protect Tony with his body, and then everything went black.
Tony was skidding on his back in a straight line away from his fallen motorcycle. He and Bruce were both wearing thick leather protective gear, so they should be none the worse for wear after such a fall. But after a split second, he realized that he wasn’t skidding on the asphalt at all. And that Bruce’s hands, which had been wrapped around him when they fell, were suddenly a lot bigger than they’d been a moment ago.
And greener.
Oh!
They skidded to a gentle stop in the ditch, the motorcycle stopping not far from them. Tony climbed off Hulk, whose leather clothing was ripped beyond repair but whose pants had luckily survived the fall.
“Fuck,” Tony began. “That car could have killed us! And it didn’t even stop! If I had my suit, I’d go after it and show the driver how it feels to see an object come streaking toward you out of nowhere.” He pulled off his helmet and turned to Hulk. “You okay, big guy?”
“Hulk okay,” Hulk answered, sitting up. “Tony hurt?”
“A little shaken up, but I’m fine. Thanks to you,” he added with an affectionate smile, which Hulk returned.
“Hulk always protect Tony.”
“Yes, you do. That was quick thinking on your part, coming out so fast to protect me and Bruce like that.”
Hulk huffed. “Banner puny. Get hurt in fall, not like Hulk.”
“And we’re both glad to have you around, big guy.”
Tony walked over to inspect his motorcycle. It didn’t look damaged at all. They could probably ride it back to the compound, which wasn’t too far away, once Bruce came back.
“We go home on motorcycle?” asked Hulk, who had followed him over to the fallen bike.
“Yep, looks like we can,” replied Tony. “When Banner comes back, we’ll head back to the compound. I can send Happy to pick up that pizza for us.”
“Hulk not wait for Banner to come back. We go home now. Hulk drive.” He reached for the handlebars of the motorcycle but Tony stopped him.
“Wait, what? ” Tony asked. “Hang on a sec, Hulk. Two problems here. One, you don’t know how to drive a motorcycle. Two, you’re a tad too big to ride this one. I don’t think the suspension can take your weight.”
Hulk looked affronted. “Hulk knows how to drive motorcycle! Banner knows, Hulk knows.”
Tony’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and he stared at Hulk. “Well, shit,” he said. “That I did not know. What else can you do that Bruce can?”
Hulk shrugged. “Lots.”
Huh. Very interesting. Tony would definitely have to look more into this at a later time.
“Is that so? Well, that’s very good to know. But I’m afraid my other point still stands; you are definitely too big for this bike.”
Hulk looked at the comparatively puny motorcycle and then down at himself. He grunted in disappointed agreement and sat down. Tony sat beside him. He wasn’t in a rush. They could hang out here for a while and chat until Bruce came back.
“But don’t you fret, big guy,” he said, his mind racing with possibilities. “Just you wait. Now that I know you can ride, I’m going to design you such a cool motorcycle. It’ll be the perfect size for you. Any color you want. And the grounds behind the compound are huge. You can ride around to your heart’s content. How does that sound?”
Hulk grinned broadly at Tony’s words. “Sound fun. Hulk like that.”
“Had a feeling you would, bud.”
“And Hulk already know, better driver than Tony. Not crash.”
“Now hold on a damn minute!” Tony huffed. “That car came out of nowhere! Bruce can confirm it, he was there…”
He trailed off when Hulk let out a low, rumbling laugh. He was teasing Tony.
“Oh, is that how it is, is it?” Tony replied, barely able to contain his own laughter. “Well, just you wait. Once I practice a bit more, I’m going to design a motorcycle course at the compound to compete on, and then I’m going to kick your smug, green ass.”
They both dissolved into laughter.