Bruce still held onto you as you walked out of the emergency room, as if he thought you might get hurt again if he were to let go. You both were very relieved to find that you were going to be fine. Nothing was severely damaged from the kick to your side you had received during the ordeal. Just some really bad bruises and a freshly formed fear of walking home alone ever again.

"Thank you for saving me," you said simply. You weren't sure what else to say. The Hulk had just rescued you from getting mugged or maybe worse.

"No need to thank me. I'm just glad I was in the right place at the right time. Though, I can't say the same for you." He met your eyes briefly before smiling at the ground.

You noticed that when he wasn't scaring off bad guys, he seemed kind of shy. A little awkward even. You couldn't blame him though. It had to be hard, knowing that there was a violent monster lurking just beneath your skin. It probably didn't make it easy to relate to people.

You stopped yourself short of your random psych evaluation. Shaking your head slightly. "I should probably head home. Otherwise, it'll be after midnight by the time I actually get to bed."

A look of confusion flashed across his face, then one of realization. "Oh, no. You don't need to walk home. I already called a car."

"Oh," you remarked.

He squinted at his watch. "It should be here any minute."

"You really didn't have to do that."

"I think I did. You can barely hobble two steps without being in pain."

You nodded. "Fair point. Well, thank you. I don't think I'd be able to keep my eyes open long enough to get home anyway. I'm exhausted."

"It's the adrenaline wearing off," he said.

Just then a very nice car sped up to the curb. The driver's window rolled down.
"Alright, hurry up," the man said.

Bruce nodded and ushered you to the backseat. He opened the door for you, and when you were settled he shut it behind you.
Once he had taken his seat beside you, the car pulled out. You were grateful that it was a bit slower than when it had pulled up.

"Thanks again, Happy."

"Yeah, yeah. I was already in the neighborhood monitoring that Parker kid for Mr. Stark. Otherwise, you would have been on your own."

They talked for a bit. You could feel your eyelids drooping shut. You were glad it was all finally behind you. All you wanted now was to curl up in your own bed and sleep in late. Even though you probably should get those papers graded tomorrow.

"Can you tell Happy your address so he can-" Bruce looked over to find that you were fast asleep. He wouldn't dare wake you up, but he didn't really know what to do now.

Happy glanced at him in the rear view mirror. "So where are we going?"

Bruce ran his fingers through his hair. "Uhh..."

_ _ _

You woke up to the sun shining on your face. You stretched, basking in the warm glow from the window. Your feet hit the plush carpet and you froze, halfway in the act of throwing your blankets off of you.

Carpet? I don't have carpet in my bedroom.

And those weren't your blankets.

Your heart sped up as you looked around the room. It was kind of bare, but still looked really classy. The only things in the room were the bed, a black nightstand, and a matching wardrobe. There was also a potted plant in the corner. The walls were charcoal gray. Well, three of them were. The outside wall was a floor to ceiling window.

You got up - thankful to see that you were still wearing your ripped leggings and blouse from last night - and looked out. New York City sprawled far below you, bustling in the late morning sunshine.

You backed away slowly. What the heck is going on?

"Ah, Ms. (L/N), you're awake."

You jumped at the sound of a voice that seemed to come from everywhere. You looked up and all around. There was no one there.

"I hope you slept well. The bathroom is to your left. You're welcome to use the shower and the change of clothes left on the counter."

You walked into the enormous, lavish bathroom. And looked around. Sure enough, there was a pile of clothes next to the sink.

"Oh, and Dr. Banner asked me to inform you that breakfast is on floor twenty-three."

"Uh, thank you?"

"You're welcome." And with that, the voice was gone.

Your reflection looked back at you from the huge mirror above the sink. You were filthy. Your blouse had mud stains all down the side where you had been pushed to the ground. Your leggings were bloody and ripped at the knees. Your mascara was smudged all underneath your eyes.

Not seeing any other option, you hopped into the shower and rinsed off, then pulled on the strange clothes. It was just a t-shirt and really comfortable sweatpants. The shirt had the word SHIELD plastered across the front in plain block letters. You had also noticed 'Stark Industries' monogrammed on all of the towels.

Slightly uncomfortable with the realization that you just stayed the night in Stark Tower, you left the bedroom and walked to the end of the hallway where an elevator stood. Once inside, you debated whether you should go to floor twenty-three for breakfast, or just skip straight to the lobby and go home.

Your apartment was at least an hour and a half walk away. You also didn't see your purse anywhere, let alone your shoes, when you looked around the guest room. It would also be rather rude to just leave when Bruce had asked you to stay for breakfast. He did save your life, after all.

Breakfast it was.

You hesitated. There were no buttons indicating the floor numbers. You were pretty much just standing in an empty box.

The doors slid shut and you were stuck inside.

Before you had a chance to panick, the bodiless voice startled you again. "What floor would you like to go to?"

You held a hand over your chest, gasping. "You have got to stop doing that, man."

"I'm sorry. I had no intention of scaring you."

"It's fine. Who are you, anyway?"
You relaxed slightly.

"My name's JARVIS. I am Mr. Stark's virtual assistant."

"Oh. Nice to meet you." You weren't sure if that was proper etiquette when meeting a robot. He was definitely more sophisticated than Siri.

"And you as well," he replied, "Now, what floor?"

"Twenty-three, please."

You arrived on the correct floor and thanked JARVIS as you stepped out of the elevator. Bruce smiled at you from the kitchen

"Good morning," he said, placing a steaming hot cup of coffee in front of you as you sat down at the counter.

"Good morning."

"I'm so sorry I couldn't take you home last night," he said.

"Why couldn't you, exactly?" You didn't mean to sound so salty, but you were really confused as to why you were there.

He grinned sheepishly. "You fell asleep before I could ask you for your address."

Your cheeks suddenly felt warm. This was your fault. "Sorry. You could have woken me up, though."

"I didn't want to bother you..."

You were both silent for a moment.

"Well, one upside to this is that I get to see you again this morning." Bruce smiled warmly before turning to attend to pancakes on the stove.

"Good point," you said, also smiling. The scent from the buttery pancakes drifted over to you and your mouth started watering. You hadn't eaten anything since that chewy granola bar you had before you left the school yesterday afternoon. Needless to say, you were very grateful when he placed a stack of steaming flapjacks in front of you. You doused them in syrup and began gracelessly shoveling the food into your mouth.

Bruce sat down beside you and dug into a plate of his own. You sat in comfortable silence for a moment, both enjoying the carby goodness and each other's company. You were so glad you'd decided to stay for breakfast.

After awhile, you ended up talking about your jobs. Turns out, when he wasn't busy being the strongest Avenger, Bruce Banner was a total nerd- I mean scientist. As a teacher, you knew to appreciate real nerds when you saw them. He admitted to being awful with grammar, however, and that made you feel a little less dumb when he went off on a tangent about God-only-knows-what in big sciencey terms.

"Why do I feel like you just made up half of those words on the spot?" you asked through a smile.

Bruce laughed. "I promise they were all real."

"How on earth do you remember all of that?"

He grinned sheepishly. "The truth?"

"Of course."

He laughed again, at himself this time. "I memorized a bunch of them in grade school. Not for an assignment or anything. I've never really used them until now."

You were puzzled. "What, why?"

His eyes left the floor momentarily and he met your gaze. "To impress pretty girls."

You leaned back in your seat, roaring with laughter. "Oh my gosh!"

"I know right? Nerdy little eight year old me, thinking that 5th grade girls would think I was cool because I knew big words. It took me until high school to figure out that the only words they cared about were the ones plastered on the backs of football jerseys."

"For the record, I'd say that saving a stranger from getting mugged without even Hulking out is way more impressive than big words and tall boys in football jerseys."

"Thanks. That's comforting."

You talked for awhile longer; and at this point, you were both flirting shamelessly.

(Okay, maybe not entirely shameless. You both blushed or looked at the floor everytime something even borderline flirtatious was spoken.)

Finally, you got up to leave. Someone had brought your shoes and purse, which also contained your dirty clothes. In all honesty, you were going to throw them away when you got home, but you didn't tell the nice cleaning lady that.

Bruce walked with you to the lobby. You both had run out of things to say, so it was an awkwardly silent elevator ride. You mentally cursed JARVIS for not saying anything, and you could sense that Bruce was doing the same. When the doors opened, he crossed the lobby with you and you came to the front entrance. You could see the man named Happy waiting by the car.

"Well," you said, trying to rid the air of awkwardness, "I guess this is where we part ways." You were already chiding yourself for the cheesy statement.

"I guess so."

"Thanks again... for everything," you said.

"Aw, it's nothing. I'm just glad I could help." He waved it off, as if saving your life and then letting you stay in his friend's billion-dollar home was no big deal.

"I wish there was some way I could repay you."

"No, no. I don't- Wait..." It was like a light bulb went off behind his eyes. "Actually, there is."

"Really? How?"

"Meet me for lunch tomorrow? At that pizza joint on the corner." He met your eyes, pleading but suddenly confident.

You smiled, glad that this new friendship wasn't about to end after all. "Of course!"

He grinned. "Sweet. I'll see you tomorrow then."

"See you tomorrow."

You stood there for a moment, just smiling at each other; but it ended quickly when Happy leaned on the car horn. Even from inside the building, you could hear him shouting, "Let's go!"

Bruce gave you a small wave before you rushed out the door and drove away with the forehead of security.