Worlds Apart (A Bruce Banner Love Story)

Chapter 6

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh~!"

Bruce awoke jolting forward in confusion as he heard a sharp high pitched sound. His eyes wildly searched the room before they landed on Solerah. Perched on his bed with her legs crossed and one arm raised above her head as she sang the operatic note dramatically. She stopped when she noticed he was awake and grinned.

"Good morning sunshine! How is my bright shining star?"

Bruce raised his brow as he looked at her blankly, holding his makeshift blanket up protectively against him when it pooled around his hips.

"See it's funny because you're not a bright shining star. You're actually quite dreary."

That comment made Bruce give into a small smile and a hum of a laugh.

"Aha! You laughed!" She pointed at him and giggled excitedly.

"Only barely." He allowed himself to relax and smile a crooked grin back at her.

"It still counts!" She shrieked with joy, bouncing slightly on the bed. Bruce rolled his eyes and stood, stretching out and hearing the small popping noises of his back cracking. "I've never been woken up with opera before."

"I thought it would be a fun way to confuse you. It's only fair since I was pretty confused when I woke up!"

His grin disappeared as he hunched his shoulders in guilt and started speaking in a fast and broken manner. "I-Sorry. I didn't want to-to just leave you on the floor and I-I didn't know where you're keycard was and you-"

"Bruce stop!!!" She raised her arms at him. "Chill! It's okay!" She hopped off the bed and looked for her shoes. "You wanna have breakfast together?" She slipped her shoes on without looking at him as she spoke.

"Uh..." Bruce frowned. Lunch was one thing but having breakfast together? That seemed so much more intimate. The thought crossed his mind that yes maybe he was over thinking this but at the same time...

"Bruuuuuce~!"

His thoughts were broken as Solerah swung open his door, holding onto the knob to support her weight as she leaned sideways raising a foot off the ground. Her mussed hair fell over her face as she continued bending downwards making everything look almost upside down to her.

"I'm gonna take your silence as a yes. I'll wait for you outside okay?"

And just like that she swung herself up and closed the door, leaving Bruce in a stupor of his own thoughts, her enthusiasm for anything constantly surprised him. "Guess I don't have a choice." He reasoned to himself that that was the reason he was going and definitely not the bubble of excitement in his stomach.

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Bruce glanced around slightly nervously as he sat at the foodcourt opposite to Solerah. He used this time as a personal experiment of sorts. There weren't a lot of people around this early so he was gauging how well he could handle being in a large area with people. He was pleased at how well he seemed to be coping. As they ate and chatted he got more and more confident and it showed in his posture and speech. As Bruce watched Solerah enjoying her egg and bacon roll he decided this was a very pleasant way to start the day.

As he watched her, he noticed her demeanour suddenly change. Her shoulders hunched and she looked down, looking like all the positivity she had was drained. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, um, nothing!"

"That wasn't convincing at all Sol."

Bruce deadpanned as she tried to wave it off with a mutter of "I'm fine." He followed her gaze as flitted from the table to the open canteen. Bruce recognised the ginger haired man from the surveillance tape. "That's the one who threw the grenade."