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Bruce looked around the restaurant, fidgeting with the tie around his neck. He never should have let Tony talk him into this.
“You need a woman,” he had said a week ago. “You need a woman and then we can go on double dates!”
When Bruce informed him he didn’t know how to even go about meeting a woman, the closest he had gotten to dating was the flirting he had done with Natasha a couple years ago, Tony told him to leave it to him. He would find him someone.
And that’s how he found himself at this fancy restaurant, that he definitely couldn’t afford without putting it on Tony’s tab, waiting for someone who had never met.
He didn’t even know where to begin when she came. How much would she know about him? Tony had them sitting at his regular table, so it would be easy to meet up.
He glanced around the restaurant again.
Still nothing.
He ran his hands down his face, and tried to will his heart rate to stay calm. He didn’t need The Other Guy coming out right now. That would just be perfect. And just his luck.
He saw the hostess walking in his direction, and any hope of keeping his heart rate down went out the window. His palms became sweaty. And all of a sudden the neck of his shirt grew too tight. For a second he thought he was shifting, but then realized it was just nerves.
As she approached the table, the hostess stepped to the side, revealing a woman who was definitely significantly out of his league.
What was Tony thinking setting him up with someone like her? Her chestnut hair hung in tight curls around her shoulders. She wore a beautiful emerald green dress that hugged her in all the right places, and she wore a nervous smile.
He stood up from the table.
“You must be Bruce,” she greeted as she approached, extending her hand.
“I am, and I’m sorry, I’m at a disadvantage, our mutual friend didn’t tell me your name,” he replied as he took her hand in his. It was soft and warm, and he felt like he was a teenager.
“Hermione,” she replied. “I’m going to have to give Tony a hard time on Monday.”
“How do you know Tony?”
“I work at Stark Industries,” she said. “I’m in the labs. I actually know Pepper more than I know Tony, but he’s started coming into R&D lately, and he’s been talking about how nice it would be to go on double dates, if only I had a guy. When I told him I hadn’t lived here long enough to meet anyone, he told me he would take care of it.”
Bruce laughed. “Funny, that’s exactly what he told me.”
“Really?” she settled into the chair across from him. “How do you know Tony?”
The waitress came and took their drink orders, once she left, he answered. “I work with his with The Avengers.”
“Oh! Which Avenger are you? Or is your identity a secret? Or are you more on the SHIELD aspect?”
Bruce bit his lip and looked at his menu. He debated telling her the truth. Would it turn her away to know who he was? Ultimately the truth won out over everything. He didn’t want to lead someone on and then drop the other guy on them later. “I’m The Hulk.”
“You’re The Hulk? Big, Green, loud?”
He just nodded, bracing himself for the ultimate rejection.
“But you’re so quiet and shy! I never would have pegged you for being the green guy.”
“It’s sort of a Jekyll and Hyde thing.”
“Except the unassuming scientist turns into a superhero rather than a murderer.”
“That’s very kind of you to consider Hulk a superhero.”
“You are part of The Avengers, are you not?”
“I am.”
“And you’re not there just biding your time to betray the group, are you?”
“Of course not.”
“Then you are a superhero in my books.”
He looked back at his menu, fighting the blush that heated his face. Luckily the waitress came over to take their orders, and he was able to compose himself a bit.
“What do you do at Stark Industries?”
“I am actually a magical consultant.”
“Magical consultant?”
“Since you shared your secret with me, I feel it’s only fair to share mine with you. I’m a witch, and our world is vastly different than yours. I am part of the magical integration program. When The Avengers came to light, with the mixing of science with the supernatural, the wizarding world decided we should start to slowly comingle with the non-magical world. I was sent to Stark Industries to keep an eye on Tony, and now I’m in R&D trying to help integrate science and magic.”
“Wow,” Bruce breathed. “You must be incredibly smart if Tony and Pepper would move you up to R&D.”
“I hold my own. What do you do for the Avengers other than becoming a large green guy?”
“I’m also a scientist. So I do a lot of research to try and help us find new ways to protect the earth.”
She gave him a smile that made him weak. “You must be pretty smart if Tony Stark trusts you in one of his labs.”
He returned her smile with a smirk. “I hold my own.”
She laughed, and he decided he liked it better than her smile and decided he should try and make her do it often.
“What sorts of things do you do for fun?”
“I read. A lot. And I’ve gotten pretty good at chess through the years.”
“What sorts of things do you read?”
As their conversation moved easily between them, Bruce grew more and more relaxed. In fact, he was already trying to figure out the perfect way to thank Tony for setting this up. It had been a long, long time since he was with someone where conversation flowed freely.
She told him all about growing up non-magical and then being thrust into the magical world as a young girl, her coming of age story backdropped by a war she was front and center in. She admitted to still suffering from PTSD from what happened to her during the war, but she was working it out, slowly. She didn’t elaborate, but he couldn’t wait to get to know her to the point she felt comfortable to open up and tell him more.
He told her about his accident. About how at first it was difficult to control The Other Guy, but after years of practice, he had it down to a science, he could shift at will. He could even remember what happened while he was in the other form, something that didn’t used to happen.
She listened to him, completely enthralled with his story. Absolutely no disgust on her face. By dessert, he didn’t want the night to end.
“So, do you live close by?” she asked after the bill was paid.
“I live in Avengers Tower,” he said. “You?”
“Just down the street from here, actually. I think I’m closer.”
“I think you are.”
“You said shifting to The Other Guy was dependent on heart rate, yes?”
“Yes.”
She leaned across the table and whispered so only the two of them could hear. “Are you able to fuck? Or is that off the table?”
Bruce smiled. “Oh, I can fuck.”
“Good. Let’s go back to my place. I’m closer.”
Bruce stood from the table and took her hand, and followed her out of the restaurant.
Yeah, he was definitely sending a gift basket to Tony in the morning.