Tony's (not so) Little Girl

9: Close with Banner

I didn't go to school for the rest of that week. Instead, I attended a program called CGLLEN. I couldn't bring myself to attend normal school, as it was simply crawling with far too many teenagers. And after my breakdown, that was the last thing I felt I needed. And so I attended LLEN, where I could still get my school work done whilst being in a semi-social enviroment. There were only five other kids that attended, and they were really of all ages. At LLEN we had kids from grade six all the way to year twelve and slightly above. I tried to go to normal school as much as possible but on the days that I couldn't, I was always at CGLLEN. I hated not being at some sort of school at all. It was my passion.

On the Friday before the dance concert I was sitting on the steps to the CGLLEN front doors. It was 3 and I needed to be at the town hall at 4. All week I had been hyper aware of the Avengers pottering around in my general vicinity, but none of them got too close. None, of course, but Doctor Banner.

Bruce Banner had thanked me for helping to calm him down and for standing up for him. It wasn't needed, he said. He had gotten it so much that he was used to it. But despite his claims I could see just how grateful he was, it was hidden in his eyes.

In fact, it was Bruce (as he had insisted that I called him) who had agreed to walk me to the town hall. My hair and makeup had been done all day and I had my leotard and tights on underneath my normal clothes. It was exactly as uncomfortable and cumbersom as it sounds. As he turned the corner I stood up from the steps and cracked my neck. The walk would do me good, I had decided.

"Good afternoon!" I exclaimed, bubbly and happy as I practically bounced up to the kind man "And how was your day?"
"The same as yesterday," Bruce chuckled "You excited for the concert?"
"Helllll yeah!" I exclaimed "This is the first time I'm ever playing a fairly major part and I am so fucking pumped!"

I laughed and did a little skip, spin thing, flinging my arms out to the side and throwing my head back. I had recovered from the horrible event that had happened just days ago as best as possible, as much as I could, as much as I always did. But then, I didn't really have a choice, did I? I had to.

As we walked along we chatted and I even got a little laugh out of the normally either stressed or somber doctor. It was a fresh surprise. Even when we got to the town hall I dragged Bruce in and sat him in the Audience. Apparently the other Avengers would be tagging along later. I had almost forgiven them, at this stage. 90% of them hadn't really done anything wrong. Tony Stark specifically, well, I could see his point of view but at that stage (and even now) I was at the belief that he could have gone about it differently.

"Will you be okay on your own?" I asked the scientist "I mean, not that I don't think that you're a perfectly capable human being or anything but if someone gives you grief you text me, alright?"
"I'll be fine," Bruce chuckled, before tilting his head to towards the doorway "Go get ready."
"Alright then," I agreed, hitching my small bag higher onto my shoulder "Kay bye!"

When I reached the doorway I turned back around and gave him a small wace before skipping off down the weaving mass of hallways that was the town hall and into one of the dressing rooms. Once I was in there I pulled off my jeans and jumper and kicked off my shoes leaving me in just my leotard and tights. The leo, though not nessessary, was the same colour as my skin and there just to sit under my blue costume dress and make sure everything looked as seamless as it could. It also negated the use of a bra, which I desperately needed (although not more so then Anna) which made me happy. The tights were just regualr old salmon coloured tights that covered the feet but could be rolled up to the ankle to not cover the feet when needed.

Once I had stripped down I sat down on the blanket that had previously used to claim a corner and started stretching. It was vital that I did. As I did so people began to trickle in and stretch or put on costumes. I said the ocasional hello to the others but everyone was so busy running around all in a flurry to do hair and makeup. It was only a half hour till the show when a knock on the door came.

"Lilith?" I heard Bruce call out
"Coming," I sighed

I stood up from my position on the floor and made my way over to the door, where I quickly slipped outside of it only to come facw to face with Bruce. In his hands he held a fancy looking box, but his head was bowed and he shifted from foot to foot almost awkwardly. When he saw that I was out of the dressing room he looked up and held out the box, which as I took it and examined it closer apeared to be a shoe box.

"Tony said to give these to you," Bruce explained "And he wanted to say that he's sorry."
"Thank you, Bruce," I sighed, tucking the box under my arm "I knkw that I shouldn't make you the messanger boy but can you please tell Tony that it's going to take mkre then a gift for me to be suddenly okay? He can't buy my affection or forgiveness with fancy gifts and things. It won't work. But thank you, Bruce."

Awkwardly, I leaned in and wrapped one arm around him in a hug, the other still occupied with the box. Bruce hugged back just briefly before pulling away and shuffling his feet once again.

"Well, ah, break a leg," he encouraged

With a smile and a wave he was gone, and I was free to wander back into the dressing room.