Bruce had known deep in his gut that there would be a hidden cost, but as with so many of Earth's cautionary tales of being careful what you wish for, he'd been blinded by his desire, even when he'd tried to see what he was missing.
Is it better to feel as he does now? He gives a little shake of his head, but he also can't argue with her when it's not an unreasonable request to shower before they revisit the matter of his anger.
He leaves her in the soiled bed, doesn't disturb his children in their jars, and goes to scrub away the hours of sex. It takes time to get thoroughly cleaned up, and he barely remembers to remove the comm from his ear before stepping under the stinging hard spray, but it does give him time to take a mental inventory and restore some measure of vigor to his exhausted body.
In the end, by the time he steps out of the shower and dries off, he hasn't changed his mind. Without his anger, he feels as though a color has been removed from the world. Nothing has changed, but there's a vibrance to his responses to the world, to Kiara, to Tony going out into the city, that has gone flat. He knows there should be more, but looking for that missing emotion is like walking into an empty room and hearing his footsteps echoed back at him by walls that are too close.
"I've thought about it," he's saying as he emerges from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, wiping the last beads of water out of his chest hair with a towel. "I haven't changed--" His words trail off in volume as he takes in the utter lack of Kiara. "--my mind."
All he has to do is check on the children and find the jars gone to know that she's gone for good. Where he should be pissed at her for ditching him without that last resolution or even the courtesy of a good-bye, there's nothing there to give. All he can do is get dressed and get moving.
"FRIDAY." The comm back in his ear, he calls out the AI while he shoves an arm into the suit to pull out a bag of chips that Tony hadn't gotten to. "Can you help me find Tony or has he gone completely off the reservation?"
He's ready to go, and discovering one bright side to the loss of the simmering stratum of anger upon which he's built his life - anger comes from fear, and without fear, going out into Sakaar just looks like an interesting challenge.
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Is it better to feel as he does now? He gives a little shake of his head, but he also can't argue with her when it's not an unreasonable request to shower before they revisit the matter of his anger.
He leaves her in the soiled bed, doesn't disturb his children in their jars, and goes to scrub away the hours of sex. It takes time to get thoroughly cleaned up, and he barely remembers to remove the comm from his ear before stepping under the stinging hard spray, but it does give him time to take a mental inventory and restore some measure of vigor to his exhausted body.
In the end, by the time he steps out of the shower and dries off, he hasn't changed his mind. Without his anger, he feels as though a color has been removed from the world. Nothing has changed, but there's a vibrance to his responses to the world, to Kiara, to Tony going out into the city, that has gone flat. He knows there should be more, but looking for that missing emotion is like walking into an empty room and hearing his footsteps echoed back at him by walls that are too close.
"I've thought about it," he's saying as he emerges from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, wiping the last beads of water out of his chest hair with a towel. "I haven't changed--" His words trail off in volume as he takes in the utter lack of Kiara. "--my mind."
All he has to do is check on the children and find the jars gone to know that she's gone for good. Where he should be pissed at her for ditching him without that last resolution or even the courtesy of a good-bye, there's nothing there to give. All he can do is get dressed and get moving.
"FRIDAY." The comm back in his ear, he calls out the AI while he shoves an arm into the suit to pull out a bag of chips that Tony hadn't gotten to. "Can you help me find Tony or has he gone completely off the reservation?"
He's ready to go, and discovering one bright side to the loss of the simmering stratum of anger upon which he's built his life - anger comes from fear, and without fear, going out into Sakaar just looks like an interesting challenge.