A Pubknight's Burger:
He'd done it on a whim, after ensuring that the girls had the whole weekend to themselves after the Exhibit Opening at a heavily recommended spa, just walked into the airport and walked on the first plane to New York to visit his own ma and da; he'd had to take a seat in commercial, but was fine with that, and even though he'd planed to sleep through the entire flight, he had fun entertaining the kids sitting next to him. Their mother, one Hanna Sokolova, profusely thanked him after waking up, embarrassed at having nodded off not even thirty minutes into the flight (clearly having been overwhelmed by stress of hauling the kiddos around), but he assured her it was alright, wasn't the first time he'd stepped in to help and she'd raised them up well, that Jakob and Vevel were good kids.
She very much appreciated it, so he wasn't bothered all that much by his shoulder being wet.
Bruce showed up and, after seeing that Happy Hour was about to start, threw on an apron and immediately started cooking, slotting in alongside the other guys just fine and welcomed back as an old friend. He'd always felt in his element behind this old grill, even when he wanted to do more,
be more, than just another cog in the machine. There was just
something about
crafting the perfect burger, charring it to perfection and packing an explosion of flavor that helped bring everything into focus, and once he got into it he was in the zone. The grill was sizzling, the toppings were prepped, and one after another there went another burger out to the customers were salivating at the thought of sinking their teeth into one of his tasty delights.
For a while, that's all there was to it, just him and the grill, and it all coming together. But that peace was shattered towards the end of Happy Hour when outside of the kitchen the boisterous chatter of the bar turned into shouting, and the distinct sound of glass shattering- A Tavern Brawl. It hadn't taken a moment for him to leave the kitchen and bear witness the full-blown brawl erupting. Glasses were flying, chairs were being overturned, and fists were flying in every direction.
It wasn't even a question that Bruce dove straight into the fray -
[
D100 => 99]/[
3D20 => 22]
- by grabbing a chair and breaking on the biggest guy in the fight, taking him out before taking the fight mano y mano to the rest of them personally. Of the twentytwo who were directly involved, only three of them were smart enough to bolt, leaving him and the rest of the cooks [who'd also joined in] to haul the trash out in a fight that honestly took of all of three minutes.
"
Agus fan amach!" [And stay out!] he swore at the groaning pile of bodies outside the pub, before going back inside to try and get everything fixed up...at which point his ma and da walked in, having heard the commotion from upstairs.
"What in the world- Bruce‽ When'd you get here?"
"Hey ma, hey da. Mind if I stay the weekend?" he asked cheekily, rubbing the back of his head in response.
A/N: The idea for this was inspired by a scene in 2013's The Crazy Ones, where Robin Williams' character, when feeling overwhelmed, would go back to work at an old diner where he used to work at for inspiration for his work in marketing [most videos have been pulled down by Fox, so no video link], and figured that it would be an interesting quirk for Bruce to have for him to go back to the Pub and work behind the counter every now and then to get some perspective that's somewhere between Ratatouille, The Menu and oh, yeah.
Also, if it wasn't clear, he saw an excuse to fight and used it to vent the last few years out.
