Jaimie Solace and the Unavoidable Affliction of Love

Chapter Eight

Fortunately for both Bruce and Jaimie, the rest of the team left them alone for the rest of the morning. Unbeknownst to Jaimie, this was because Bruce had temporarily changed the security setting to the lab to only let in essential employees, and although Tony could have easily overrode that command, Bruce hoped that the man would get the hint. Luckily, he did.

The two doctors worked in relative peace for the majority of the morning, and to Bruce's surprise it was Jaimie who suggested that they should join the team for lunch.

"Uh, not that I'm opposed, but are you sure?"

Jaimie chuckled at the look of confusion on his face (which she thought was very cute). "As much as I'm appreciating being able to spend time alone with you, we're going to have to face them all eventually."

"True, but you seemed horrified this morning when Tony barged in. I just didn't think you wanted the team to be.. involved so soon." he said.

"Did you miss the part this morning when I said I didn't care who found out about us?" Jaimie asked, moving to stand in front of him and gently placing her hands on his chest, fiddling with his shirt collar. "Plus, they've been involved from the start, even Thor was trying to get us together."

"What? Really?" Bruce asked, amused.

"Yup. I'm pretty sure that we've been this month's main entertainment, not that I mind. And I only looked so horrified because Tony was alarmingly close to walking in on me on my knees for you. I would rather you remain the only Avenger to see me naked, Bruce." Jaimie said, teasingly.

"Oh, well thank God for that."

She tilted her head up to give him a peck, breaking away quickly when Bruce tried to deepen it. "Nope, if you start that I'm gonna finish what we started this morning and we don't have the time for that."

Bruce knew she was right, but that didn't mean he was going to be happy about it. At this point, it was likely the entire team knew about their date and about the fact that he spent the night (Tony was a blabbermouth and Bruce had no faith that he would keep that to himself). Cleary, most of them were a little too invested in his relationship, but he knew they meant well. They wanted to see him happy, and they also all loved Jaimie (except maybe for Clint). So yes, Jamie was right about the fact that they would have to face them and their weird/endearing invasive questions and excitement, if only so that things could go back to normal sooner.

The only problem was the team was probably waiting for them to declare in no uncertain terms what exactly their relationship was, and Bruce didn't exactly know how to answer that.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming" he said, letting her lead him by his hand to the elevator, "Although I feel like it's my duty to warn you Jaimie, they're probably going to ask us about, uh, what we are. If you know what I mean."

Jaimie paused right before she could press the 'up' button for the elevator. "I do know what you mean, and the simple answer is that it's none of their business. But I don't think there's any harm in saying that we're dating."

Bruce blinked at her, bewildered. He knew that they had gone out (and went way past third base, but that was neither here nor there) but did that mean they were dating? Like actually dating? Was that too fast? Bruce didn't know, but he was also terrified of saying the wrong thing and hurting her feelings, or ruining what they had going on. Luckily for him, Jaimie immediately knew what he was thinking.

"Relax Bruce, I didn't mean like, 'we're official and putting a label on it' dating. I meant that, we're getting to know each other more in this context, going out on dates and seeing where this goes, kind of dating." Jaimie knew that she really, really liked Bruce. And she was pretty sure that the feeling was more than mutual. She was also super aware of the fact that their physical relationship haad progressed faster than either of them had thought it would, but hey, sometimes when you find someone you click with it just happens. But that didn't mean she wanted Bruce to think that things had to get super serious super fast. They were exploring things together, and there was nothing wrong with that.