Inside Voices ▷ Bruce Banner | ✓

19 - WHAT MAKES A MONSTER

But that wasn't to say she wasn't aware of current events to some extent, Bruce often explaining things to her when she asked, and it was nice to ask questions and have someone who, for the most part, had the answers. If he didn't, she could always ask JARVIS or someone else.

"I'm gonna head out, have a good day," Steve said, taking his plate to the sink before walking off, nodding towards the two left at the table, Bruce raising his glass again and she just waving.

With Steve gone, the two found that they were just sitting and working on other things. She had her tablet out and was studying while continuing to eat, Bruce reading a hefty novel while also continuing to eat himself, and it was nice to just have some company.

"What are you reading?" she asked, tilting her head to try and read the cover.

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame," he explained, showing her the cover, "I read it when I was younger, but I've been so busy ever since I haven't been able to go back to it, not to mention there were other books that kept getting my attention."

She nodded, tilting her head at the book. "What's it about?"

He opened and closed his mouth, laughing softly. "Um...you know, there's a movie about it, would you rather just watch that? I'm not the best at summarizing books, I wind up just telling you every little plot point I think is important. Which is everything."

"You can read it to me," she offered, and he laughed again, not harsh, just a reflex.

"Yeah, I could," he said, but then she saw just how far he was in the book and decided to try something else.

"You can watch the movie with me then read another book to me," she offered, and she didn't know why she wanted to spend so much time with him, but he didn't seem to mind, nodding in agreement, watching as she went back to working on her studies before continuing to read.

They stayed at the table in silence for half an hour more until she was tired of getting things wrong on her lessons, her head hurting, and she set the tablet aside, continuing to eat as she turned to watch Bruce continue to read, the man taking sips of coffee and bites of toast every so often before he turned a page with his pinky.

Without looking up, he spoke, "You wanna watch the movie now?"

She smiled, ducking her head in embarrassment as she nodded taking a sip of her juice, as she still wasn't ready to drink coffee; it had been suggested she not drink it back when she was still at risk, so she still had some adjusting to do.

He laughed again, smiling to himself as he bookmarked his page and stood, putting away their plates and walking towards the common area. She followed right after him, dropping onto the seat next to him, pressed up right against his side.

"Disney always softens the movies, but it's not totally different, they still keep the same message," he explained, pulling up the movie on the TV.

"What is it?" she asked, raising her head to look at him from where it was propped on his shoulder.

He smiled, looking down at her before turning his attention back to the screen, more excited than she anticipated he would be. "You'll see."

º º º

She wasn't sure if she liked the movie or not. Correction, she liked the movie, she thought it was nice, though she wished Esmeralda fell in love with Quasimodo, and Bruce pointed out that theirs was a platonic love and still just as strong, but she argued that if she had fallen in love with him it would have shown that his looks really didn't matter, but that was besides the point.