Chapter Text
"It's okay.
I knew you'd leave me anyways.
Everyone does."
Adorable.
Adorable was the first thought that came to his mind when his nervous, big brown eyes set on the Toni Stark. Though he was not around much media/television in a while that doesn't mean that he doesn't know who this petite genius in front of him is. The last time he saw her was when she was on the front cover of Rolling Stone with no clothes on and the American flag covering her most intimate parts. Bruce always thought of her as a promiscuous woman but here she was wearing what a sixteen-year-old boy would wear.
A Metallica black band tee ripped cropped jeans and dirty black converses. She was not long since the last time he saw her on the magazine cover which was years ago. It was in a short edgy pixie cut. Not combed obviously or was she trying to pull off 'I don't care' look? And her face. Adorable, again. Toni has pixie like features and he curses whatever trashy magazine reporters could talk shit about such an adorable face.
And her brain. Bruce can not say that was adorable along with the sarcastic comments that roll out her pretty pink mouth. She talked science, his language with ease even if she was more on the engineering side and not the biochemist side. And when she said that she only educated herself on gamma radiation last night, Bruce became a goner.
Brave.
Bruce really wants to say stupid but that should not describe Toni Stark. But sometimes being too stupid can cause bravery.
Bruce already knew that she was a brave one when he found out why she created Iron Man. How she created in with the limited tools in a cave with terrorists threatening her life. No one knowing where she could be. And the fact that she puts on a 'brave' face hiding the PTSD and demons underneath from what could of happened in that cave full of men.
And that she kept the Iron Man. That she did it on her own accord. That she risks her life.
And sometimes it could be a vice if not a strength.
Like when she shocked him on the hell carrier for kicks. Trying to see the symptoms that the 'Other Guy' was near. She didn't flinch away like a normal person should do. No, she leaned in with her big brown eyes staring into his with an infectious smile on her face.
Or the fact that she risked her life on a suicidal mission. That she took a nuke and fell from the wormhole. For the first time. the Hulk felt fear instead of anger. Fear that the one person to accept him as not a monster but a savior to Bruce was about to fall to her death.
Brave and, again, incredibly stupid for putting her address on the news when her life was endangered from terrorists.
Brave and stupid. The worse combination.
Flirty
The mix of her being too adorable, a genius, and flirty did not sit well with Bruce. And not in the way that people would think. He can, well sometimes, handle the flirting that Toni would give him but not when she does it to others.
Bruce was possessive along with 'The Other Guy'. He only wanted Toni's eyes set on him. Her smile reserved for him.
But she loved getting a rise out of people.
Steve was her main target since Thor did not understand most of what she was saying. Steve's reactions were just adding fuel to the fire.
He can handle fighting monsters on the field but he can not handle a Toni Stark in the midst of his own home.
"JARVIS, Where's Toni?"
"Miss is in the gym," JARVIS replied.
Bruce left the shared lab of his and Toni's and went to the gym. He saw Natasha and Clint spar. Thor lifting weights with ease. And Toni. Not doing a damn thing but sit there eating chips watching Steve practice boxing.
"What are you doing?" Bruce asked her as he sat next to her feeling the jealousy rise inside of him.
"Enjoying the view," she said a bit too loud so that Steve could hear. She was gifted with Steve shaking his head at her with his ears red. "This is so better than Paper view."
Bruce decided that it was best for him not to go to the gym if Toni and Steve were there for his health and everyone's safety.
But she makes it up to him if she is not flirting with Steve.
When it was movie night and she said that Steve has to watch Rocky, Bruce became the sole attention of Toni's. He would not admit how happy that made it even if two trained agents who could figure out his emotions behind the mask he was trying to put up when Toni laid up next to him. Bruce was on the farthest of the L-shaped couch in the corner. Not caring what Bruce was trying to do, Toni laid up into his side and sat the popcorn bowl on his lap. Her slender fingers going up to his hair.
Bruce tried hard to hide his blush.
"I just love how fluffy your hair is," she said.
Thirty minutes into the movie, Toni fell asleep on his shoulder. Bruce kind of resented Toni putting him in this position as the whole team gave him knowing smiles.
"What?"
"Don't 'what' me, doc. How long you guys planned on hiding your relationship?" Clint asked with a grin.
"W-we-we're not in a relationship. We're just friends," Bruce told them.
"Then what is this?" he waves at their position.
"She is usually like this. You know that she flirts and--
--oh this is not the infamous Stark flirting," Natasha cuts him off. "This is something else. She never touches or cuddles if she is not trying to sleep with them in the next hour."
"She likes you," Clint teases.
Accepting
Toni with all her spunky-ness and sarcastic charisma, she is also too accepting of things. Yeah, she showed her 'media smile' but not as much in front of her team. She easily let the team have their own floors to stay on. Easily gave them their own transportation--but who needs one in New York? She gave Bruce his own lab even though she drags him in her own lab.
She accepted him with the 'Other Guy' as his alter ego. She actually was not scared of him and what he's done in the past.
She accepted all his 'weird quirks' so she says. She stopped drinking altogether. Tried the 'disgusting green stuff. Ugh, chai tea is the best tea with a shot of espresso and steamed milk' and also meditates with him. Toni slept a bit more and drunk less coffee. She also accepted his preferences and going at his pace in their relationship. It was more of an 'emotional' relationship instead of her usual abundance of 'physical' relationships. Sex was not completely off the table, thank god.
"So when can we fuck?" she asked after a week of 'official' going into a relationship. She's been holding her tongue for, like, ever trying to be the understanding one like he is but that is not how they worked. He like her for her and he couldn't help but laugh genuinely when she asked during breakfast and they was not alone. And it just had to be Clint who laughed his ass off at the flustered expression of the doctor.
Bruce waited till they were alone to give his answer.
"Make love?" he tried which earned him an entertaining expression from Toni. Bruce sighs. "I don't know but we can't...it has to be slow. Not rushed."
But Bruce also accepted some of her mannerisms she lets out.
When she had the idea of making a robot that could disassemble the avengers, Bruce was all for it. Okay, he was not eager about it but the scientific part of his brain that was curious about the outcome and also the mushy part of his brain when he agreed and she gave him a genuine smile that made his mind go blank like it usually does when she touches him or smiles at him or even when she shares her thoughts on experiments they should try.
And maybe it was his fault for agreeing.
Bruce is supposed to be the smart one. The one with the sense and not going along with crazy ideas of his girlfriend--at the time.
But then things just went weird. And destructive and people died. Bruce couldn't live with what that witch did to him. The damage he caused and also all the blame being pinned on her and the team.
But mostly her.
But what hurt most of all to Bruce?
That she easily accepted him leaving like she expected it.
Afraid.
That's what he felt when her life was in danger. When she was presumed dead and he was in the Stark Tower in New York, he had to go into lock-down. Hulk wanted to smash.
And she was afraid too.
Afraid to admit her feelings. Afraid to talk about Afghanistan, afraid of talking about Obie's betrayal. Afraid to admit that she didn't just felt admiration and curiosity with Bruce. Yeah, she flirted with him but it took Bruce to make the first move to move their relationship forth. She came back to the tower with a cast on her arm, her signature smirk, and a coffee in her free hand.
Bruce shoved through their teammates and embraced her. He felt her tense up at the surprise touching. His large and pretty strong arms wrapped around her. He pulled back and smiled when she blushed. Blushed! Bruce could not stop himself anymore. He pressed his lips against her not caring about the audience or the fact that this was their worse first kiss since he smashed her teeth into his lip.
But it was okay. Bruce was not afraid anymore as long as he keeps an eye on this recklessly stupid, brave woman.
But then he left her because of Ultron and his cowardliness.
And he felt fear when he saw her face on the television and on the bottom of the screen: "Breaking News: Attempted Murder on Toni Stark".
He had to go back.