"Hey there, Doc." I greeted, sitting on the table Bruce was working at intently.
"Naomi." he nodded absentmindedly, his mind on his work and nothing more. I rolled my eyes and crossed my legs.
"Notice anything different about me? Like, I don't know, a new air of authority?" I pretended to inspect my nails and stretched out my leg.
"No... did you get a new hair cut?" Bruce's gaze flickered up momentarily, then returned to his project.
"Bruce!" I whined in exasperation. "You promised we could hang out after my meeting with Fury! And you need to take the possibly newest Avenger out for lunch!" I crossed my arms.
"What?" Bruce's head shot up and he looked at me in happy confusion. "He made you an Avenger!?"
"Maybe? I don't know, Fury and the others haven't decided yet." I shrugged. Bruce picked me up from the table and led me out of the room by my hand.
"This deserves celebration. I'm taking you out for the best cup of coffee you'll ever have." Bruce said. As the elevator doors closed, I chuckled at his excitement. We stand in companionable silence before the elevator doors open again.
"Hey Steve." Bruce smiled. Captain Steve Rogers was standing there, looking from me to Bruce and to our hands, which apparently were still holding each other.
"Sir!" my hand jolted upward without my consent to salute, but it made painful contact with my boob. "Ow, shit!" I hissed, holding my right breast in my hand and leaning down a bit.
"Oh my god, Naomi are you alright?" Bruce's face reddened as he placed his hand on my back. His hand had probably brushed my chest. Not like he hadn't seen me naked. I nodded, wincing as I straightened. Steve stood awkwardly near the corner of the elevator, trying to hold back a smile.
"Are your stitches alright? You didn't tear them open, did you?" Bruce asked, trying to inspect my shoulder.
"Shit, Banner I don't know! If they held up through the battle simulator, then they held up from that!" I shrugged and immediately regretted it from the pain shooting into my arm.
"Battle simulator!?" Bruce exclaimed.
"Yeah, like an actual mission, but with holograms." I nodded, gripping at my shoulder. Bruce reached for my shirt and pulled the neck of it off the side of my shoulder.
"I can't believe you would do that without consulting me first." he grumbled.
"Fury told me to." I defended myself. Bruce fumbled with the bandage for a moment, finally managing to get a look at my stitches.
"Oh no, Naomi... They're all torn out. Looks like I'm going to have to stitch you back up." he sighed.
"WHAT!?" I pulled away, scrambling to hide behind Captain Rogers. Bruce broke into laughter.
"I'm joking, Naomi. They're fine. Maybe a couple of bleeding suture points, but you'll be fine." Bruce leaned against the elevator wall. Steve looked over his shoulder.
"Hello, again." the captain raised an eyebrow.
"Hi." I waved nervously. "How'd the rest of the meeting go?"
"Well they say I'm not supposed to talk about it, but," his Brooklyn accent was heavy. "let's just say that you made a good impression." Steve offered me a kind smile. I smiled in relief and slipped out from behind him.
"So, where are we eating, Doc?" I asked, nudging Bruce with my shoulder.
"A café that I go to to relax." he replied, looking down at me. "Then, maybe back to my office so I can get back to looking at the stitching job I did on you yesterday." Bruce attempts a sultry wink but it ends up being insanely forced and goofy and both Steve and I break into a fit of giggles.