Marvel imagines

There's no light without darkness - Bruce x reader

I feel like Bruce isn't generally a huge favorite for people but I really like him:)

Warnings: none

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A year ago, I would probably not be able to guess how my life would eventually turn out when I started working for Bruce Banner. He hired me as his assistant to help him out in the lab and make his work life a bit easier, which I was happy to do. Certainly, for that salary. For the first couple of weeks, everything was great. I enjoyed his company, and he would never give me too much work to handle. I'm pretty sure that I had never been so happy in a work environment before. Suddenly work didn't feel like work, more like hanging out with a friend and helping him out a bit with stuff I had always enjoyed doing. We would go for lunch together pretty much every day and sometimes Tony would tag along. However, I didn't socialize very much with the avengers at that point, Bruce was enough.

One sunny day in June when we had just come back from lunch, Bruce insisted on trying out some new ideas he had been working on for a while. He trusted me enough to handle such dangerous and serious corporealities. The experiment seemed manageable in theory, we just had to be careful, that was it. He gave the instructions and I set it all up. Turns out that something did go wrong.

Ironic, isn't it? The person that had suffered the consequences of a horrible accident had just exposed another to the same exact situation.

I woke up in the hospital a couple of days after the incident and Bruce was the first person that came to mind. Mere seconds after I had asked the nurse for him, he stepped into the depressingly plain white room. He explained what had happened and that he had somehow gotten away unscathed. He must have apologized a hundred times to me who laid in that hospital bed all bruised up. He cried and, in the end, I was the one comforting him.

He was wrecked, the guilt was just too much because he knew what happened to him and he was terrified that I would face a similar fate. We had been dealing with some powerful substances in that lab that were comparable to the super-soldier serum. As long as I stayed in that hospital there was no way of knowing what the long-lasting consequences would be or if there even would be any at all.

I never blamed Bruce for what happened, I trusted him as much as he trusted me, and he would never intentionally hurt me. Especially not like that. It didn't matter how many times I told him that things were going to be fine and that I didn't hate him, he still hated himself.

When I finally got out of the hospital Bruce offered me a room in the Stark tower so that I could stay close, and he could examine any eventual effects of the accident. He ran tests on me in the lab and could see clear enrichment in my DNA. When we put it to the test in the training room it became clear that I had become faster and stronger. Not only that, but my reflexes were off the charts and every sense was heightened. Bruce still felt bad for what happened but couldn't help but feel impressed by the effects and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't as well. I felt powerful.

For me, it was overwhelming. Bruce kept running tests to figure out exactly what had happened. Suddenly everything had changed, and I had become the main focus in the lab. Even Tony was curious. Tony also wanted me to train with the avengers, he saw the opportunity but that's when Bruce stepped in. He knew the pressure I was under and wasn't going to let anyone force me to do anything I didn't want to do. This is also when Bruce stopped treating me as one of his work obligations and as a friend again. There weren't any severe consequences of the accident, I needed some specific nourishment to keep my energy up, but that was it. So, Bruce decided to give the research a rest and help me deal with it the way I wanted.

The whole situation had led to me and Bruce spending a lot of time together and even though he was technically still my boss, I couldn't help but develop romantic feelings for him. I felt confident that he felt the same because he would always compliment me, affectionately touch me whenever he got the chance, and would always get notably flustered whenever I would do those things to him back.

The guilt never really went away though I had no problem reminding him that it wasn't his fault and that I still cared about him a lot. I guess we helped each other since dealing with my new life helped Bruce with his own. He realized that what happened to him could be something positive just like it proved to be for me.

One time we were in his lab just talking about things that didn't have anything to do with work. That actually happened a lot, our relationship developed so fast during that time. I sat on top of the desk and Bruce sat in front of me in his office chair. He was smiling bigger than ever, and I could just say the same thing for myself. We had been laughing the entire day and there wasn't much to do at work at the moment. The stark tower was at ease, and it felt nice. Although I kind of missed the action a bit and it led me to think about the offer Tony once had laid out for me.

"Do you think I would make a good avenger?"

"I think you would make a great avenger. You basically have all Steves qualities, and your intelligence would be very helpful for strategy."

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course, I do. It's just that I would be worried about you all the time because even if I truly believe that you can handle yourself, I don't know what I would do if you ever got hurt or compromised."

His gaze dropped to the floor and there was a slight blushing tone creeping onto his cheeks. He ran his fingers through his hair which I noticed him doing a lot when he was nervous.

"Don't you know how worried I am about you constantly? I know you are the hulk and all that, but I can tell what your other persona does to your mental health."

Now he looked back up at me with wide eyes.

"Do you really care for me that much?"

Before I answered I reached out and took his hand in mine. "Yes, I care about you very much."

His beautiful smile returned to his lips and the blushing tone grew darker than before. How I love seeing him like this, happy.

I used my grasp on him to pull him closer until our faces were mere inches apart and then I connected our lips. It was like every piece fell in place and everything felt right at that moment. I placed my arms around his neck to feel his body onto mine and he laid his hands on my thighs. Eventually, we pulled apart and stared into each other's blissful eyes. His eyes were sparkling, and I can only imagine that mine were too.

"So, I guess you will become an avenger pretty soon then?"

"I guess so. Tony will be pleased."

"I will be very pleased to be able to spend even more time with you."

At that, he leaned in again and placed sweet kisses all over my face.

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Really liked writing this one with the whole background and all. If anyone has any suggestions I would be happy to take them:)