𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 ➪ 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘧𝘧

1.00

"Spencer."

Spencer looked up, half terrified, half relieved. Bruce wasn't much taller than her, but it felt like he was towering over her in the doorway. Maybe that's because he was literally the Hulk-like three hours ago...

"Hi," Spencer replied, swallowing, hard. She picked at the fabric on her wrist. "I wanted to..." no, that's not it. She raked her hand through her hair, "I thought-"

Bruce looked completely awkward and horrified and uncomfortable. 

And Spencer was relieved to see that because she felt the same way. 

"Were you ever gonna tell me?" she asked because it seemed like the most reasonable thing to do. After all, she was close enough with Bruce to know if he was a superhero or not, right? Being his kid counted for something other than holidays and summers. 

Bruce's eyes darted to the wall of the hallway, right above Spencer. His eyebrows furrowed, and his lips pursed and she realized he was thinking about it. He had to think about the answer? It was supposed to be a dead giveaway.

Her eyes grew wide and her head cocked to the side and her mouth opened as she struggled to find something to say. 

"You weren't going to tell me?" 

Well, she didn't mean to sound like that. Her voice was all screechy and whiny and sure, she had like a million free passes to be a whiny and screechy kid, but she still blinked, and pulled away before adding in a more leveled voice, "You weren't going to tell me."

"Not if I didn't have to," Bruce admitted, swallowing his own words down as his eyes met Spencer's. 

Spencer diverted her eyes immediately, locking on the wall behind him. 

Bruce wasn't used to silence from Spencer, and he had just gotten her to talk to him again, so he tried to fill the silence. "It's not-"

"So much for reconciling, right?" Spencer blurted out, partially surprised at her own words. "I mean, you wanted to fix stuff, so you didn't have to live with yourself being like your dad-"

"Spencer-"

"And now you're admitting you've been lying-"

Bruce shook his head, "I have not been lying-"

Spencer's eyes deadlocked with him. Her face was hardened. "You told me you were a scientist. In a laboratory. A researcher, Dad, do you realize how far this is from a researcher-"

"I do research-"

"And you also grow into the Green Giant when you get upset!" Spencer exclaimed, her nose all flared and her eyes wild. She thought for a second she'd regret saying that, but she didn't. Not at all. Bruce deserved it, and it didn't look like it hurt him much. Still, she pulled back, her eyes wandering to the wall again. 

"I didn't want you to..." Bruce started but trailed off. He looked tired. Tired and upset. 

And Spencer was both of those things, too.  But she hadn't kept secrets and lied by omission for years, so forgive her for the lack of sympathy.

"I should probably call mom," Spencer excused lamely, more out of habit. She'd been using that trick the entire two weeks she'd spent here - whenever she needed a moment by herself.

Bruce nodded, his eyes falling to the floor. "You should," he agreed, his eyes peeking back up for a moment as he adds with a small, hesitant expression, "she knows. About everything."

"She knows?" Spencer echoed, her voice rising like three octaves, and finally losing its restraint. The anger and indication were racing up her arms like waves, crashing over her, and lulling into a sea of anger.