Socially awkward – Bruce Banner

I was training with Natasha, dodging and using my telekinesis to parry and block her attacks. Neither of us had to talk much, we'd become really close since I came to work at SHIELD two years ago. We were almost to the point where we called each other sister. I knew her and Hawkeye liked each other, and in turn she was the only one who knew I had a very strong attraction to Doctor Banner.

One of her attacks slipped through my defence and I squealed in pain as one of my snakebites got caught on her sleeve, ripping out my lip.

"Shit! I'm sorry!" she gasped as she stared at my torn lip with wide eyes. "You need to go to Banner, I think it's bad."

She shooed me off in the direction where Banner's lab was and I kept my lips parted slightly so the blood wouldn't go into my mouth, feeling it drip down my chin instead. I cupped my hand underneath my jaw so my blood wouldn't make a trail along the floor and pooled into the palm of my hand instead as I jogged down the long corridor. I stopped in front of the door and knocked before slipping inside so he knew someone was there.

"Julianna? What do you need?" he asked, not seeing my face as my back was to him as I shut the door again. I turned round to face him and his eyes widened as he saw the amount of blood that was coming from my lip. "What happened?" He hurried over and pulled me to the sink where he bent me over it slightly so the blood could drip there instead of on me.

"Nat ripped my piercing out while we were training." I replied, cringing as I felt the split down my lip. It felt like my bottom lip was torn into two separate parts. "I need stitches, don't I?"

"Yeah, quite a few by the looks of it." He turned my head so I was facing him and leant down slightly so he was closer to me. I felt my cheeks warm slightly and tried to fight back the urge to blush as he gently tugged at my lip to inspect the damage, making me wince a little. "Sorry."

He got a washcloth and pressed it over my mouth as I trailed behind him over to a chair he pulled out for me. I shut my eyes as I saw him threading the needle; I wasn't a huge fan of the things. I nearly jerked back when I felt the sharp sting of the needle tugging through my lip, making him quickly grab the back of my head to stop me from moving.

"Don't move, I don't want to stick it somewhere it doesn't need to go." he said, making me snort lightly as I tried to hold back a laugh. I swear I was so dirty minded sometimes, usually at the wrong times such as now. I always seemed to embarrass myself in front of Bruce, which was just typical seeing as I had a massive crush on him. "Get your mind out of the gutter, that's not what I meant." I cracked my eyes open to see the smile that graced his beautiful face, making my cheeks warm and flush a light pink.

I kept my eyes squeezed shut as I tried not to focus on the pain as Bruce continued sewing the tear in my lip shut again so it looked relatively normal apart from the black stitches running along the wound. I felt his hands leave my face and gingerly opened my eyes again, looking over at him as he nodded he was done with the stitching; making me let out a sigh of relief. He wiped an antiseptic wipe over it before sticking a couple steri-strips over the stitches to keep them sterile.

"I think you're done." He said, removing his fingers from my mouth as he released my sore lip.

"It hurts." My voice came out a little funny as my bottom lip had swelled slightly and was turning a little numb, making me laugh. Bruce smiled and shook his head before helping me up off the chair like a gentleman, making me turn shy again.

"You have some strange mood swings sometimes." He remarked, still keeping hold of my hand. "One minute you're laughing and the next you turn all shy when I'm near you."

"I always embarrass myself in front of you, if I'm shy then it means I'm less likely to make a fool of myself. Though I seem to do it anyway." I blushed and he chuckled, making me look at him.

"I think it's cute when you get flustered, the pink on your cheeks suits you."

"You're making me more socially awkward than I already am." I muttered, turning my head away slightly as I heard him laugh at my remark.

"You're not socially awkward, you're just a little shy sometimes." He kissed the side of my head and I swear I could have died happy right there and then.