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The phone in your pocket vibrated for about the millionth time in the space of an hour, you didn’t even have to check it to know it was Sarah calling to brag about her wedding; the two of you had been forced friends since you were children, as such there was no other choice than to see the annoying frenemy wed. With an irritable sigh you stopped in one of the many hallways of the Avengers’ Tower, ready to get the call over with.
“Hi Sarah,” you greeted monotonously.
“(Y/N) hi,” she squealed brightly, feigning surprise as if you had called her, “So what have you been up to?”
“Work.”
An uncomfortable silence hung over the line, she was clearly waiting for you to ask the same of her, when you didn’t she spoke about it anyway, “Really? I wish I could say the same but I’ve been busy, you know, planning my wedding. Speaking of which you are coming right? It’s on Saturday, just two more days; I only ask because I didn’t get your RSVP.”
“Must have got lost in the mail,” you lied, knowing full-well that it was in the bin, “I’ll be there.”
“Wonderful. Now tell me, which lucky duck is your date? Or as usual, don’t you have one? Let me tell you it’s not your fault you can’t get a date and I know that Laurence would just love to take you out.”
You didn’t know what was more offensive, the fact that Sarah still passed malicious comment on your love-life or that she was cruel enough to set you up with Laurence; everyone knew that Laurence was a sleaze-ball who got off on groping unsuspecting victims, it was also well-known that he’d had an unhealthy infatuation with you for years.
“So what do you think?” she babbled incessantly, “You know what, I’ll just call him and accept, better yet I’ll give him your number.”
“NO-” you cried loudly, “I – I mean uh, I already have a date.”
“You have a date! Well I’ll be… Wait a minute,” suspicion resounded in her voice, “Who?”
You swallowed thickly, searching the area frantically for anyone you could name, you looked through the glass wall on you left, into the lab, “Bruce” you blurted upon seeing the man hunched over a chart.
“Bruce?”
“Yes, Bruce Banner.”
“The Hulk!” Sarah squawked, “Oh my… well that’s… I have to tell everybody about this.”
A wave of nausea washed over you, “Yeah sure, whatever, you do that, I have to work now, bye,” you snapped the phone shut, giving her no time to respond.
You watched Bruce through the glass, “Why? Why him?” you berated yourself, “It couldn’t have been Tony? No, I had to name the shyest Avenger, the one with the least chance of going along with this madness… I couldn’t have just told Sarah where to stick it, I don’t owe anything to that woman but the idea of one more event alone… it would just give her more ammunition against me. Okay, deep breath… let’s just go and explain the situation to Bruce, I’m sure he’ll at least fake phone me at the party to say ‘sorry I couldn’t make it’ or something right?”
“Hey Bruce,” you sang, entering the lab nonchalantly.
“(Y/N)!” he jumped up, knocking a slide onto the floor.
You picked up the pieces, while he stuttered through several clumsy apologies, “Hey, it’s okay, God knows how much stuff I’ve broke in here, just last week I smashed a beaker with some weird gloopy grey stuff in it.”
“Th-that was you,” he crossed his arms and leaned against the table in an attempt to be more casual.
You grinned, adoring the unique sound of his voice, “Yeah well… moving swiftly on, what are you doing this Saturday?”
“Nothing,” he blurted, hating how fast he had answered, “I mean, just some lab work, you know.”
“Great, well I was wondering if you uh, well you see it’s… ok I’m just gonna come clean; I got annoyed at someone I know because she’s always bragging about her stupid wedding and I panicked and told her that you’re my date.”
Bruce visibly paled, “You- you what?”
“I know and I’m sorry, you have every right to be mad right now but you were the first person I saw and… look, you don’t have to come with me but I’d appreciate it if you could fake call me or something to say you can’t make it. I’m going to ask properly though, Bruce Banner would you like to accompany me to a wedding on Saturday night as either a date or a friend?”
Bruce stood still, his unsure gaze fixated on you; he had wanted this for a long time, to have the nerve to ask you out, for you to ask him out, in his mind it had always been the perfect moment when it would finally happen but here he was, and it was happening by accident. His mind went back to the moment he’d first made you laugh, it was the moment he’d promised himself that he would always be there to help you, no matter what.
“Um Bruce, you ok there? You’ve been silent for an awfully long time. You know what, this was a mistake, I’m sorry I put you through this, I’ll just leave,” you turned to go despondently.
“I’ll go,” he mumbled.
“Really?” You faced him with a hopeful grin.
“Yeah, I’ll go with you.”
“Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me,” you pulled him into a tight hug, he stood awkwardly through it, unsure of how to act; you broke apart and placed a fast kiss on his cheek, skipping out of the room with a quick call of, “You’re the best friend ever.”
Bruce remained in place self-consciously, his cheek burned where your lips had been; after a long moment he sighed gruffly, wondering what he’d got himself into.
Bruce knocked lightly on your door, gripping on tightly to a bouquet of wilting flowers; you stepped out of your room, surprised at the offering.
“Hey Bruce, what’s this?” you asked, looking from him to the bouquet.
“T-they’re for you, isn’t that what you’re supposed to do on dates?” he questioned, apprehensively.
“Not usually for weddings,” you laughed, “But thank you, I love them, I’ll put them in a vase before we leave. I must say you’re looking very dapper, I’m loving the tux.”
“I uh, it’s a rental,” he blurted bashfully, “You look amazing tonight, not that you don’t always look amazing, you’re always beautiful, not too beautiful, I mean-”
You chuckled, cutting him off, “Thanks, I think I needed that, shall we go?”
“Yeah, there’s a cab waiting out front.”
“Ooh, a cab, very swanky,” you winked playfully.
Throughout the duration of the ride to the church you made small talk about who else would be at the wedding and what they’d be doing; Bruce hardly listened, he was trying to remember how to breathe, even living together the two of you had never been this close before.
The wedding, as most wedding are, was a dull one, the two of you were a little late and snuck in the back, hoping that no-one would notice. After the vows people came over to greet you and ogle at Bruce, some passing snarky comments about how you could bring a “monster” to such a beautiful place. With each passing comment you would grab Bruce’s hand tightly and stare defiantly at the person who had passed it, making it known that you wouldn’t accept such behaviour; Bruce watched you in awe, he had expected the comments but not your reaction to them.
It was only at the after party that Sarah graced you with her presence, even then it was only to brag about her new husband and inspect your date.
“So,” she chimed, “How long have you two been together?”
“It’s only been-” you began.
“A year,” Bruce jumped in, his tone was strangled.
“Really? A whole year? (Y/N) you didn’t tell me that,” Sarah pretended to be insulted.
“That was my idea, that we keep it under wraps for a little while r-right sweetie?”
“Right!” you forced a smile.
You carried out the rest of the conversation with Sarah, Bruce stood by you rigidly, jumbled thoughts filling his mind, “Why did I say that? Oh God, (Y/N)’s definitely going to think I’m a freak now; I should just leave now. Is it too late to leave? Maybe nobody would notice if I did… (Y/N) would notice… (s)he always notices me.”
“Oh would you look at that?” Sarah’s high tone interrupted Bruce’s inner monologue, “Laurence is coming over to see you (Y/N), I’ll just step out and leave the three of you alone.”
“Laurence?” Bruce inquired.
“Total creep,” you muttered as the man walked over.
“(Y/N)!” Laurence threw his arms out to hug you.
Bruce took one look at the lanky man’s weasel-like face, and wrapped his arm around your waist strongly; you looked up to him surprised at the action.
Laurence glared at Bruce, lowering his arms slowly, “And who might you be?” he growled impatiently.
You cleared your throat, “Laurence, this is B-”
“I’m her date” Bruce glowered.
“I see,” Laurence sneered, “Well from one gentleman to another, I’d like the honour of a dance with-”
“I’ve got first dance, and all the dances after that.”
“I do believe it’s customary to ask your partner first.”
“He has me all night,” you cut in, ending the feud before it began.
You pulled Bruce away, heading over to the dance floor, and stopping just short of it, “Do you want to tell me what that was about?” you demanded, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that close to being angry before.”
Hurt flashed through Bruce’s eyes, “Did- did I frighten you?”
“No,” you soothed, rubbing his arm gently, “You could never scare me, I just want to know that you’re okay; are you?”
“When we were over there I saw how uncomfortable that guy made you, it wasn’t me acting like that, it was him… the green guy, he was watching you. I- I should go.”
You grabbed his hand before he could leave, forcing him to face you, “Look, if you want to go then that’s fine, we’ll leave together, but if you’re half as smart as I think you are then you should know that I don’t care about the green guy, I came here with you. With that in mind we have two choices, we can leave together and chill at the tower or we can put our money where our mouths are and show Laurence what a real fake couple looks like when they dance, what do you say?”
Bruce exhaled shakily, “I say that we dance.”
You beamed radiantly, and guided his hand to your waist for the next slow dance, Bruce’s breath hitched in his throat as he swayed with you to the music. After a few moments Bruce stepped hard on your foot, he apologised profusely when he heard your sharp intake of breath.
“It’s okay, keep going, you’re doing great,” you encouraged.
Throughout the remainder of the dance he kept repeating his mistakes and apologising each time he did so; you smiled through the pain, trying not to grimace.
“Sorry,” Bruce mumbled.
“I told you, it’s fine, it was just a few mistakes, after all-” you started.
“Not about the dance. I’m sorry for coming,” he left you alone in the middle of the dance floor, vacating the room in favour of the balcony.
You followed close behind, worried as to what had brought his sullen mood on; when you got to him he was bent over the edge of the balcony, holding his head in his hands. You placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, causing him to tense up slightly.
“What’s wrong?” you asked soothingly, “This is about more than the dancing isn’t it?”
Bruce sighed dejectedly, “It’s about you.”
Pain sliced through you at his response, “W-What?”
“I have waited to dance with you for so long and I built it up in my head… It was supposed to be this amazing moment where I would spin you round and everything would be right and I would tell you… I would finally tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“That I… That you… It’s complicated.”
“Bruce look at me,” he ignored the request, “Look at me,” you waited till he followed your command, “None of this has to be complicated, you just have to take a deep breath and tell me what’s going on.”
He nodded reluctantly, following your advice and taking a deep breath, “Whenever you come into the lab I feel… I feel like my day is going to be better. No one defends me like you, no one makes me feel as good as you do, no one smiles as bright as you; I want to make you smile like that. Nothing that I feel makes sense, you don’t make sense.”
Bruce stared at you intensely, you stepped close to him, causing him to take an unsure step back, he hit the balcony edge; taking one more step forward you kissed him lightly. His arms wrapped around your waist hesitantly, almost as if he thought this was another one of his dreams, when he was sure that it wasn’t he gripped you tighter, feeling the love he’d often desired.
You pulled away breathlessly, grinning from ear-to-ear, “You seeing that smile now?”
Bruce blushed ecstatically, “I don’t know about that, seems like it could be a little brighter.”
“Well then, I think you should kiss me again.”
Bruce beamed, complying eagerly.