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He's reluctant to let himself go without anyone around that can stop him. Though he hates to admit it, Bruce needs restraints in his life. Though he likes to be the one in control of those restraints...that is often not the case. Someone else always tries to take the reigns. To steer him in the direction they think is best for him. It's incredibly risky letting The Other Guy out in metropolitan areas, to begin with. Let alone in the doorway of a cafe. So he hesitates.
Bruce has limited options.
To be frank, Bruce Banner, isn't particularly equipped for serious combat. He's equipped to chill the fuck out and stay out of things. To know when to step back and remove himself. But not for one on one hand to hand. That's just a recipe for disaster.
As if that wasn't bad enough the villain in front of him was not one he could afford to ignore. Loki stood in front of him, in disguise for the moment. But Bruce could recognize that look. The look of someone who thought that the rest of the world should bow to their whims. It made Bruce angry but he tried not to focus on that. He pushed the destructive emotion away.
What could he do?
Realistically if he could get somewhere open enough that had a lot of visibility the news could inform the Avengers or the B Squad (he didn't know what else to call the solo heroes that helped sometimes) or S.H.I.E.L.D.
All he has to do is avoid hulking out and breaking everything on his way there. Right? After their last encounter, Bruce wasn't worried about fighting Loki. Not really. Not when the Other Guy had ragdolled him into submission.
"Is there a particular reason you chose this cafe or were you just hoping to get thrown around again?" Bruce jeers, moving out of the doorway and onto the street. He started calculating the fastest route to Central Park or somewhere equally visible. It was a fine line between somewhere populated enough to get attention and far enough away to keep everyone else safe.
Loki was not amused by the joke. A sneer. And a scoff. "As if I would require anything from such a meager station with a limited selection."
That gave Bruce pause. His feet inched off the sidewalk into the street. "So you've looked?"
"I have perused, perhaps." Loki loved playing games, so it was pretty easy to get him talking.
"Oh? Stubborn as ever I see." He finally got off the sidewalk and could see Loki already turning toward him. Watching his every move. "Perhaps there's something more suited to your tastes elsewhere."
"Perhaps."
There wasn't so much a smooth shift as a sudden burst of chaos. Bruce took off down the street and in the next moment, he could hear Loki giving chase. It's not a long chase, mind you. But it does end in one of New York's parks.
Panting, Bruce has the gall to snicker, "You'll have to move faster than that if you want to catch me."
He watched Loki wipe something out from under his chin, an errant leaf from one of the trees perhaps. No. Bruce squinted. Sweat.
"Aren't you a god? How are you sweating already?"
For a moment Loki stiffened, ramrod straight until the god part of the sentence sunk in. Then he went straight to preening. "I am. Good of you to notice, plebeian."
Bruce rolled his eyes. He could do without the attitude. "Don't get carried away, man."
A pause.
"I don't consider myself a man."
"Yeah, yeah you consider yourself a god."
Loki shifted then, curling a finger in front of his mouth. "No. Well I mean yes. Technically you are correct. I do consider myself a God. But what I mean is that I don't conform to your normal classifications of gender."
Bruce's mouth popped open. "Oh. Well. Shit. Sorry uh...what pronouns do you use?"
Look. Loki might be a villain and an ass but Bruce didn't like the idea of misidentifying them either.
Loki seemed to be weighing that. "It changes."
"Alright. Just for today then? Or this conversation at least." He gestured between them. "I wanna punch your face obviously but at least I'll be addressing you correctly."
Loki looked surprised. "That is...strangely generous and considerate of you."
"Well, like I said I still want to punch you in the face. A lot."
"True." They shifted, moving their hands to their hips instead. "They."
With that settled Bruce nodded. "Okay. Good. Alright now. To get to punching your face in."
"Now, now, I have the upper hand here." They grinned, mischievous as ever.