Avengers One Shots

Bruce Banner: Gamma Glowup (1)

Y/N POV

I couldn't stop biting my nails. A bad habit I've always had that grew exponentially worse ever since I was a little kid. A nervous tick that wouldn't go away due to my anxiety rising each minute someone else gets called in. One after another, men and women in business-like clothing leave the room one by one.

A few weeks ago, Dr. Bruce Banner put up an ad online to have an assistant to help him with his work. My good friend, who is a social media manager saw it and told me to go to it. At first, I was reluctant, knowing his expertise and high status, but ended up going on a whim. I stuffed my thesis binder and any other useful information into my knapsack only an hour before.

When I got to the location, there were multiple people dressed really nicely, whereas I had not even gotten out of my evening clothes of linen pants and a black tank top. People of all ages were being ushered in and out of Dr. Banner's office by none other than Pepper Potts. I thought about how the Snap probably effected the amount of participants that showed up today.

Since my late arrival, I was one of the last people to be interviewed. She brought me to his office and closed the door. I sat down at the chair opposite to his, which was turned facing some windows. He seemed to be whispering to himself before he swiveled his chair towards me.

"Sorry about that, I was just dealing with..." He trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"Don't worry about it." I answered. "I'm Y/N L/N, it's a pleasure to meet you Dr. Banner." I brought out my hand for him to shake. His hands were coarse and dry, which contrasted to my sweaty ones at the moment. "Tell me a bit about yourself."

"Well, I'm Y/A (your age) years old and I double majored in physics and electrical engineering. You're work on radiation actually helped proved on my thesis about C4 and it's ability to be used to build a stronger source of energy." He nodded his head and smiled, "In what way?"

"You stated that radiation doesn't have to be seen as a bad thing. By using my talents, I was able to harness that energy to charge larger devices faster. I tested this using my friends Tesla and surprisingly, it was one of the only things that didn't immediately blow up in my face." I smiled at the memory. "I worked diligently on different types of radiation and how they could benefit electronics in the future. And that's how I landed my current job. But still paying off student loans though."

"If it's you love your job, then why are you speaking with me today?" He asked. I paused for a moment. None of my interviewers for previous jobs have ever asked why I am interviewing. "I want to get out of my comfort zone. We test the same products for months straight and I would love a new challenge. I like testing out theories that haven't been discovered yet, and this is the perfect opportunity to do so. I believe that working with you would bring me a new set of abilities moving forward."

"Honestly, you and me both. About the comfort zone thing that is." He said. "Tony talked me into doing this due to the stress he saw me go through after the Snap. I've worked alone ever since I became to Hulk and he wants me to get some 'fresh meat', as he puts it. Truth is, I haven't been going about this Hulk thing right for a long time and I want to be at peace with it," Dr. Banner states. He sighs and runs his hand through his salt and pepper hair.

"The Hulk project is an interesting one. I've read your papers over and over, and everything is good right up until the testing. I think it's because you were working on something that the technology wasn't built for at the time being."

He gives me a hard look, like he's pondering something. Oh shit, I definitely said the wrong thing, I thought. Bruce hmmm's in response as he just glances over my resume for the first time on his desk. "Interesting thought. I'll let you know if you got the job in the next upcoming days."

He got up calmly and walked me toward the door. "It was lovely talking to you," I said.

"I blew it." I said to Y/F/N, the one who told me to go for it. "If you said your opinion and he gets mad over it, he probably has a tiny dick." We're sitting in a coffee shop just a few hours after the interview. The workers are just about to close, as they are sweeping the floors and cleaning the counters. "Men in engineering don't listen to women. Trust me," I said.

"This isn't some dumb science bro from engineering 101. He's a well-experienced man who has also dealt with a lot. Even if you don't get it, you still have an amazing career ahead of you."

"You're kind the one who did this to me. Making me sad over a job opportunity I didn't even want." I took a sip of my tea, as I felt my cellphone ring. I brought it out of my pocket to see a random number. I placed it on the table and let it go to voicemail.

"Hi, this is Bruce Banner and I wanted to -"

"No way," Y/F/N exclaimed. I scrambled to grab my phone and pick it up, "Yes, hi sorry! My phone was at the bottom of my bag." He laughed a bit and said, "No worries. But I want to let you know that you got the job. When would you like to come to my lab to start?" I smiled to Y/F/N who was leaning as close to the phone as humanly possible over the small circular table. "Does this Wednesday work?" I asked. "Perfect, I'll send you the address."

"Sounds good, thank you so much by the way."
"Of course, can't wait to start."

I hung up the phone and we both stared at each other in disbelief. Then we both got up and cheered, making the employees stare at us.