Memories- Bruce x Reader Chap. 3

Surprisingly Tony stayed out of your way for the next hour or so, allowing you and Bruce to discuss the best way to locate the Tesseract. Bruce had so many questions for you but now didn’t seem to be the best time to ask them so he settled for working with you and at times just watching you.

You were still just as beautiful to him as the day you’d met though your hair was shorter and your smile seemed to lack it’s usual brightness. He was wondering what you had been through that might have caused that when you sighed, leaning back to rub at your eyes, and then pulled out a pair of reading glasses.

His reading glasses.

~~~~Flashback~~~~

Bruce came home from a two day science convention to your tiny, shared apartment, eager to be home with you. He opened the door to find you sitting in front of a large canvas, covered in paint smudges, with a frown on your face. You would sit for days once you hit your stride with a painting and Bruce just grinned, he loved to watch you work.

You were squinting at a particularly detailed section of what was already promising to be one of your best pieces yet when Bruce came over to kiss you on top of your head, “Hey honey. You should take a break.”

You tilted your head to look up at him, your face tired, and then pulled him to you for a kiss, “I will in just a minute. I don’t want to lose the flow for this section.”

You went back to squinting as he massaged your shoulders, “Where are your glasses?”

You let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing at your eyes unhappily, “I sort of stepped on them yesterday.”

He chuckled, you always managed to break things when it seemed you needed them most, and then pulled his off his shirt collar and placed them in your hands, “Take mine.”

You looked up at him, already shaking your head, but he just kissed you, “It’s alright. I have others and I can’t have you straining those beautiful eyes of yours.”

You put them on and he gave a small half smile at how adorable you looked before settling down on the couch behind you to watch you work until he’d force you to take a break.

~~~~End Flashback~~~~

“Are those…?” he wondered aloud, staring at the thick framed glasses that he used to wear in his youth.

You followed his gaze and then gave a nostalgic smile, “Yeah. I’ve never been able to part with them. I’ve had to replace the lenses a couple of times but somehow the frames always manage to survive.”

“I always wondered where those went.” He said giving a soft chuckle.

You looked at him and then the glasses before holding them out to him, “Here. I have others and they were never really mine anyways.”

He shook his head, a little taken aback that you’d be willing to return them to him after holding on to them for all this time, “N-no you keep them. I couldn’t-“

You took his hand and wrapped it around the glasses, “I insist. They always did look good on you.”

Before he could respond you stood, calling over you shoulder as you walked out of the room, “I need a break. Be back in a bit.”

“I always thought they looked best on you.” He mumbled to the open door.

Tony had been quietly observing the interaction between you and Bruce curiously and spoke up for the first time in a while, “So you and the Firecracker… what happened there? One night stand? Bad break up?”

Bruce turned to look at him with a confused frown, “No. Why would you think that?”

Tony raised an eyebrow, “The way she looks at you when she thinks your not looking… it’s like you’re going to disappear and she kept your glasses man. There’s a lot of unresolved tension there. You two should just bang and get it over with.”

“Yeah no. So what if she kept my glasses?”

“Chicks don’t keep stuff from people they want to forget, especially not stuff they use everyday. It’s obvious she still loves you Jolly Green. Heck she even tried to keep your ass from being dragged into this whole thing and punched her superior when he did.”

Bruce looked down at the glasses in his hand. Tony may have a point but how could you still feel that way after all this time when you knew exactly what he was.