Avengers Imagines (Part One)

Bruce Banner X Alt!Reader - Girl All The Bad Guys Want

A/N - This chapter is based on the song 'Girl All The Bad Guys Want' by Bowling for Soup. I don't know why, but this song just screams Bruce vibes at me. Please bare with me, I know we don't like describing the reader on these posts, but for the story to work it needs to happen. Get down with your Alternate self. I hope you all enjoy it.

You should never judge a book by its cover. It was a sentence you'd had to use far too many times over the course of your life, and you'd likely have to use it a lot more in the time you had left. People had always told you that they assumed you would be mean when they first saw you, and God, it hurt your feelings more than you would ever admit. Apparently, brightly coloured hair and facial piercings meant that you had to be an abhorrent human being at first glance. But the moment people actually spoke to you, that assumption was dispelled. Or so you had always thought. 

When you had first joined Stark industries as an intern, you had decided to tone down the alternative fashion. This was going to be your first time as an adult in a professional setting, and you wanted to make a good impression, so you'd dressed yourself up in a pair of black trousers and a pretty basic blouse. It was uncomfortable. It felt like everyone was staring. You just felt completely out of place. For the first couple of weeks, you'd stuck with the attempt to appear 'normal', until you'd realised that Tony was coming to the lab in jeans and T-shirts whilst you suffered in office wear. 

You'd slowly phased out the plain black trousers, replacing them with bright check prints. And then you'd gotten rid of the blouse, replacing them with t-shirts and jumpers. Eventually, you'd even gotten so comfortable that you'd come in wearing a skirt and fishnet tights. It was a look that you felt so confident in that you'd been buzzing around the lab like a happy puppy, practically radiating your excitement to your co-workers.

You were sitting at your desk fiddling with a gadget when Tony had rolled his desk chair over to you, a wide smile on his lips. 

"What are you doing Saturday night?" You glanced up from your work, your brows furrowing.

You shrugged, leaning back in your seat. "Was supposed to be going on a date, but the guy turned out to be a total creep," you uttered, a small frown etched onto your lips. It was at this point, that Bruce seemed to realise that work had stopped and your break had started, and he nudged his chair over to join the two of you at your desk. 

"Total creep like he wanted to wear your skin as a suit or total creep like he doesn't like chocolate?" Tony uttered, causing a short snort of laughter to burst out of you. 

"Total creep like he thinks he can rid me of the demons that make me sin," you murmured, shaking your head in disbelief. "I swear, I only attract crazy people," you added.

You ran your hand over your face, looking completely defeated as you let out a soft sigh. "They can't all bad," Bruce started, his attempt at lifting your spirits falling of deaf ears. 

Tony held up a hand to silence you before you could respond. "I want you to tell me about the last three guys who asked you out, and why you didn't go," he told you, giving you a small nod so that you could continue.

"Okay," you murmured, pouting slightly as you began thinking. "Well, obviously, we've got the ridder of sin. And there was the guy who believed in the lizard people." You paused for a moment, your brow furrowed in concentration. "Oh, and the guy before him told me he wanted to breed me before we had even met." 

Bruce choked on his coffee, spluttering as you released a small chuckle. "Jesus," he uttered, his voice strained as he regained his composure as Tony cackled beside him. 

"Crazy people love me," you reiterated. "It's like they see colourful hair and fun makeup and assume I'll be as psycho as they are."

"That's because you find all your dates on Tinder," Tony corrected. "You need to find people who actually know you as a person." 

You were frowning when the phone on Tony's desk chirped, calling him away to some meeting he was already ten minutes late for. It was true. You needed to find someone who looked at you and saw you, rather than your clothes. But God, that seemed like a lot of hard work.

"You look upset," Bruce uttered, watching as you quickly shook your head, forcing a small smile.

"Nope," you murmured, sitting up a little straighter in your seat. "Just thinking about what Tony said." 

Bruce looked unconvinced, but nodded as he got up to scoot his chair back to his own desk. He hovered there for a moment, looking as though he was fighting with his own brain. "For what it's worth," he started, drawing your attention back to him. "I think you're great, and any guy would be lucky to have you." 

You could feel your cheeks heating up at his comment, a real smile replacing the faux one that had been there moments before. "Really?"

"Of course. You're smart and funny, and God, you're so pretty-" Bruce caught himself before he could say anything else, and awkward smile painted on his lips. "Sorry." 

"Thank you," you murmured, biting down on your bottom lip as you turned your attention back to your work. 

The two of you stayed silent like that for a while, both of you getting on with your work. It was hard to concentrate as your mind raced. When Bruce had said all that stuff it had made your stomach flip with excitement. You had never imagined that he would ever have any interest in you, but now, God, it would have to be you to make the leap of faith. 

"Bruce?" His head popped up from his desk, a soft hum falling from his lips he glanced over at you. "Do you want to go for dinner this weekend?" 

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