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“I swear I don’t think I’ve been this nervous since debate nationals in high school. Or maybe during my second PhD. Or… I don’t know.” Bruce was pacing the room, his steps having more power now he held his Hulk form. Tony was stood by the coffee machine getting his afternoon dose of caffeine while Nat peeked at him over her magazine, eyebrow raised. “I feel like I’m talking too much, am I talking too much? Oh god what if they change their mind-”
“You seriously have to relax man,” Tony said as he picked up his cup and took a sip. “You’re making me feel nervous and it’s not even my date!”
“A date? No, no, it’s a not a date,” Bruce ruffled his hair and pulled on his tie, “It’s just a seminar on molecular structure and predisposition to imbalance over time.”
“Yeah that sounds so boring… it has to be a date if they’ve agreed to come along.”
“Well er… they invited me actually.” Bruce watched Tony and Nat share a smirk before continuing with their tasks. “What-What is it?”
Tony patted him on the arm, “It’s a date, dude.”
As you walked down the stairs, you spotted Bruce lingering by the main door to your apartment block, mumbling to himself. “Hey stranger,” You smiled as you opened the door, admiring the jacket and trousers he was sporting. “Impressive outfit!”
“Oh, thanks, you too. Er, I mean, you look good too.” He smiled then quickly looked away.
“So… a cab?” You asked, edged towards the road.
Bruce rubbed the way of his head and glanced away, “I er… I don’t fit in a cab.”
“Oh! How silly me, we’ll walk. It’s not far anyway.” You started heading down the street and Bruce soon followed as you opened up the notes on your phone, “So the main seminar starts at 3pm but I figured we could get there early and look at some of the stalls in the main hall, sound good?”
“Sure,” He replied, “I read there’s gonna be a demonstration on the new 3D printer being tested for medical supplies.”
You glanced up at him, smiling widely, “We best get there early then!”
It turned out that Bruce’s presence at the seminar had reached all ears, as both of you were immediately circled on arrival, with many asking for photographs or signatures from ‘Professor Hulk’ himself. For obvious reasons, he couldn’t exactly hide from the adoring crowd, so you both ended up late for the seminar, having to sneak in and hide in the back row. There you could enjoy the peace together, revelling in the science before you as you also revelled in your close proximity to Bruce. You’d worked on several SHIELD projects together before- where your feelings for him first developed- and now he was a lean, green, science machine that everyone wanted a piece of. A celebrity. Though to you he would always be the sweet scientist that you could share insight and emergency snacks with.
When the seminar was over, Bruce asked if you could wait until everyone had left before making your exit, not wanting to deal with the crowd again. You agreed and, after several minutes of pretending to be in an intense ‘sciencey’ conversation, you snuck out, stifling giggles as Bruce knocked into almost everything on the way out of the building.
“Wow you were so stealth in there- I see why the Avengers want you so bad.” You chuckled, holding your side.
He laughed in return, “You know I’ve gotten a lot better now I’m in this form permanently.”
“Yeah? I’d pay to see you prove that in a game of paintball.”
“Okay… maybe not that good.” He grinned. You were still getting used to his new look, but the way he smiled and the glint in his eyes never changed. You both remained gazing at each other for a few moments, before Bruce cleared his throat, “Well, er, I enjoyed that, despite the awkward entrance.”
You shrugged, “I didn’t mind it. We can go back in if you want?”
“Oh no, I don’t do well with crowds anyway, let alone when they want to talk to me.”
“Okay, let’s go for a walk then. You can tell me all of the things you think were wrong in that seminar.”
The sun had begun to set during your walk and sure enough, Bruce had a long, passionate rant about various aspects of the seminar he believed were inconclusive or downright incorrect. You listened intently, admiring his enthusiasm for the subject, and sometimes you became lost in the moment, instead focusing on the way his lips formed words, and how we spoke with his hands when feeling particularly emotive. The walk finally took you back to your apartment block, and you felt a tinge of disappointment. “Well, I had a wonderful afternoon.” You smiled at him.
“So did I.” He replied, “You know, I was so nervous about it, I felt even worse when Tony was joking about it being a date.”
Your heart sank. “Oh?”
“Yeah, I said you’d invited me and he was saying it was too boring to not be a date. Kinda ridiculous actually.”
“Oh. Yeah ridiculous.” You couldn’t hide the disappointment in your voice even if you tried. He looked at you for a second before his eyes grew wide, “Oh my god I’ve been an idiot haven’t I?”
You scoffed, “Well I guess that depends on what you mean.”
You watched him wringing his hands as he grimaced, “Was this… a date?”
Your gaze dropped to the ground, arms folded, “Do you want the truth?”
“Please.”
You sighed deeply before feeling brave enough to look up at him, “I wanted it to be a date. I’ve liked you for a long time, and it took me this long to build up the courage to invite you.” A few seconds of silence went passed before Bruce cleared his throat, a small smile growing on his face.
“In that case, I’d like to try again. Would you like to go to dinner with me? Now?”
You smiled lopsidedly, “I guess so, if you think you can beat a microwave dinner for one.”
He chuckled as he held his arm out for you link with, “I’ll do my best.”
Bruce took you to a small Vietnamese restaurant, the type you would only go to if you knew it existed. “Wow, this is a hidden gem.” You awed as he let you walk in first. “I found it once whilst escaping from some ‘fans’… Here I can just be me.” He smiled as he spoke and you mimicked the action, before he led you to his favourite spot, a booth in the corner away from the window. You spent many hours in there, talking about the seminar, your continued work with Fury, and eating copious amounts of incredible food. The staff kept bringing in dishes for you to try, often teasing Bruce with hushed whispers you couldn’t quite hear. You couldn’t stop smiling at Bruce either. Despite the almost too small booth that he had folded himself into, he actually seemed relaxed, happy even. “Here, try this, it’s amazing.” He grinned with a mouthful, passing the bowl over to you.
“I’m so full right now, I don’t think I can move.” You held your hands up in surrender before leaning back in the booth and sighing, “That was the most amazing meal I have ever had.”
“I love it here,” He smiled softly, glancing around the room as he spoke, “I don’t feel like a big green monster in here, you know?”
“Well you’re much more than that, Doctor 50 PhDs.”
He chuckled quietly, “I only have 7.”
“Oh well more fool me!” You teased, “Only 7? Wow your education has been rough hasn’t it?” You both laughed, Bruce’s echoing throughout the room, making your heart soar.
Eventually you left the restaurant to make the walk back home, enjoying a comfortable silence as you did so. You had your arm linked with his, which felt weird considering you used to work together, let alone because of the size. As you made your way to the set of stairs that let to your main door, you both stopped and faced each other. “Thank you for today, I had a great time.” Bruce smiled.
“Yeah,” You grinned, “I definitely preferred the second first date.”
Bruce laughed breathlessly, “Yeah sorry about that.”
You waved your hand, “It’s fine, you made up for it.” Gazing into each other’s eyes, not wanting to leave just yet, you found yourself glancing down to his lips, the only problem was he was much taller than you and you imagined he was far less brave also. As an idea popped into your head, you grinned and pulled him to the bottom of the stairs. “Y/n what are you-?” You jumped up a few steps then turned and leaned into him, placing a kiss on his lips. After the initial shock, you felt him rest his hands very tenderly on your back. The kiss was as soft as you imagined it would be, and warm against your chilled lips. After a few more lingering moments, you pulled away and smiled at him as your faces remained inches apart. “Are you busy? Next week?” He asked between breaths.
“I’m free Tuesday, meet here at 6pm?”
“It’s a date.” He beamed, before kissing you once more and watching you go inside.
“Oh I hear humming.” Tony teased as Bruce strolled into the communal living room. There was nothing that could ruin Bruce’s evening now. He felt elated, more overjoyed than he had ever felt before. And now he was craving it, craving you. “So,” Tony continued as he followed Bruce into the kitchen. “How was the boring seminar?” Bruce poured himself a glass a water before moving to head back out, patting Tony roughly on the arm as he went, “It was a date.”