[for Bruce]

[soulthatwanders]

It's only weird if you make it weird. Don't make it weird.

With that thought firmly in mind, Wanda took a deep breath and knocked on Bruce's door, jacket slung carefully over one arm. She'd put the task of returning it off for as long as she could because she'd secretly been hoping that it might disappear with the rest of Manhattan and she'd be off the hook, but it was apparently native. No such luck there.

Not that she wanted to avoid him forever, of course, but she really had no idea how it might go, and as far as she was concerned, New Year's had proved that her judgment was apparently weirdly impaired where he was concerned. Still, as long as she didn't make a big deal out of anything that had gone down (which was pretty much nothing, anyway), she was fairly sure it would be fine. Why wouldn't it?

"Anyone home?"

Not weird.

Comments

[bannered]

"Got it." He scrubs a hand over his face and looks around, trying to gauge the distance to his clothes from here. They hadn't been tossed very far, and he slides to the edge of the bed to start shucking on his pants, standing up to adjust them at his waist.

"Well, you want to make sure you have time to - to do that," he says, glancing around for his shirt.

[soulthatwanders]

"Yeah," Wanda agreed awkwardly, trying not to watch him out of the corner of her eye and failing miserably. "You, uh, you don't have to rush on my account," she said over her shoulder from the doorway as she pulled her blouse back on. "You can stick around for a little while if you want. You know, unwind a bit."

The worst part was that she honestly didn't know whether the offer came from a place of altruism or the desire to make a cleaner getaway. Maybe it didn't matter in the long run.

[bannered]

"It's alright," he says, shrugging his shirt on over his head but leaving it open by a few buttons, hardly caring about the current state of his clothes. At this point, there's a swim in the ocean with his name on it, and since he lives so far removed from everyone else it's almost as if he's got his own private beach, so he doesn't exactly need to worry about putting on a pair of swim trunks.

"Got to rinse off on my end, and there's some more thatches that need to be secured before the sun goes down," he adds, crossing the room to stand by the doorway. "I'm trying to make sure this lab gets at least finished before next Christmas." He gently guides a hand against the small of her back and leans in to kiss her cheek, near the edge of her lips. "You go ahead."

[soulthatwanders]

To her credit, Wanda managed not to flinch even with how on edge she suddenly found herself around him, even leaning slightly into the contact before she moved away to slip her sandals on. "I'll see you around, big guy."