"YOU'RE JUST LIKE A CAT, YOU KNOW THAT?" 

She tilted her head to try and look at Bruce who was leaning over her head, a small smile playing on his lips as he rested his chin on his fist, his elbow propped up onto the table she was sprawled over, and she gave him a small smile as well.

She had been visiting the lab more often, mostly at the request of Bruce who had been getting regular updates from JARVIS on how she was doing, the AI letting him know of whenever she had a short episode that she didn't want to warn him about, along with her sleeping patterns. But that wasn't to say that she didn't go visit him of her own volition, she found that she enjoyed Bruce's presence, even if he was often too busy to give her his full attention at all times.

But he was giving it to her now, and she was wholly pleased, smiling up at him from where she was sprawled along the table, and he laughed, shaking his head at her with an amused smile.

She tilted her head, reaching out towards his glasses, and he scoffed, leaning down to let her take them off his ears, moving to put them on her own face, smiling up at him, and he laughed, reaching out to tap the side of them, causing her to freeze, blinking rapidly, and he laughed again, shaking his head.

"How do I look?" she asked, adjusting the glasses, and he pretended to think, tilting his head, rubbing his chin.

Finally, he smiled, his arms crossed in front of him, his body leaned against them, his head hovering over hers. "Adorable."

She felt her cheeks warm and she averted her gaze, Bruce's cheeks pink as well, looking towards the other side, and it was only when she looked away from him that she found Tony standing in the doorway of the lab, looking between the two with a knowing smirk.

He said nothing, however, instead making his way over towards his screen, going over something that he had been working on by himself for the past few days. She had been confused, as he said it pertained to her, but he had only asked for Bruce's help a few times, the older man seeming surprised every time he was asked to help consult.

The two watched him work for some time, though Bruce seemed to be more interested in continuing the tests that he had been running on her when she had decided to sprawl out against the table, causing him to pause and laugh at her.

"I'm gonna need these back," he said softly, tapping the side of his glasses, and he inclined her head towards him, letting him slip them off her ears, placing them on his own nose, going back to running his tests.

She tugged at the sweater she was wearing, looking down at how it was engulfing her. It was one of Bruce's that she had found when going through his closet, and he explained that, after he turned into The Hulk, they just shoved him into one of his oversized sweaters and carried him off, a role that jumped between Thor and Steve depending on who caught him first. He had a few sweaters that declared his distaste for the government, and Steve always laughed when he saw them, so he had taken to wearing them often.

Because of how happy they made him, she decided to swipe one and wear it, and she had garnered the right response when she had walked into the lab, Bruce doing a double take when he caught sight of her, laughing hard at the, 'Suck My Dick, General Ross,' sweater that Tony had gotten screen-printed for him.

Bruce paused from where he was scanning over her with a handheld device. "You had an episode this morning?"

"Just a small one," she said softly, motioning to her side, "It hurt, a lot, but not for long. JARVIS said it lasted for only thirty seconds."

He nodded, frowning as he wrote it down, looking confused as he mumbled to himself, and she reached out to try and see, only to frown down at all the chicken scratch coupled with words and symbols she couldn't understand.

"I'm a doctor," he explained, and she only partly understood the connotations from the medical show he had shown her.

Nevertheless, she nodded, leaning forward towards him, and he smiled, setting down his things to pull her into a hug, and she was able to neatly tuck her chin on his shoulder before carefully hiding her face in the crook of his neck, the way she often saw Steve do when she hugged Tony when he did something nice for him, such as getting him in contact with some of his old war buddies that he was sure were dead.

This had been a new fixture in their dynamic. Ever since Bruce had hugged her, she had tried to get more hugs. It was as if she needed them to live which, according to science as Bruce said, she did. He had explained that she was touch starved and, now that she had a taste, her body realized she needed it more and more, such as sleep, which was something he and Tony often had to combat.

"Aw..." Tony called from the other side of the room, but while he had a taunting tone, he was genuinely smiling, raising his eyebrows to Bruce, speaking in a language that she didn't understand.

"What are you working on?" she asked, turning to look at him, and he brightened, as if he had been waiting for her to ask the question.

"I'm so glad you asked," he said, bounding over towards her, tapping on another screen which pulled up a nice looking screen with a few buttons, "Sweetheart, you're heading off to school. And college. Maybe grad school, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there, at least get your bachelor's."

She blinked, looking between Tony to Bruce, the latter seeming a bit more surprised, but not necessarily confused, looking proudly over to Tony. 

"Of course you did," the older man said, smiling, before turning to her to explain, "Tony set up a program to help you get caught up with all the schooling you had missed in the years you haven't been taught. You said you were taught on a need-to-know basis, which covers the real world skills which, frankly, most of us can't teach you, but it would be nice to help you fill in the gaps."

She nodded in understanding, looking back towards the screen. "So. This will teach me?"

"Yeah, it's a lot more condensed, it focuses on the important stuff and gets rid of all the fluff, and since it's stuff that I wrote, it'll be the most effective. I'm planning on polishing it later down the line, offer it to the public so people who weren't able to go to school for financial reasons could finish school easier. But it'll take a lot to get the education system to, you know, care," Tony explained, but he dismissed his words with a wave of his hand, not wanting her to ask any questions.

"How long do you think is this gonna take?" Bruce asked, sounding more curious than anything.

"Depends on how good she is at taking in information and how long she works per day, but this is flexible," Tony said, and Bruce nodded to himself, looking interested in the program, and Tony winked in a silent promise to show him later.

"You wanna go through with it?" Tony asked, and she stopped herself from pointing out her synthesized mutations and whether or not they were still in place, since they were focused on another subject.

She nodded wordlessly, trying to seem as excited as she genuinely felt, and Tony grinned, which meant she was most likely successful, and he reached out to grab a tablet, tapping the screen a few times before handing it to her.

"This is your new tablet, and it has the program built in, along with the news and search engines. I didn't...I didn't block or censor anything, because I don't believe in that and I don't wanna put you on a need-to-know basis, but be careful, okay? Try to have someone with you when you're looking up stuff, just in case you head somewhere weird," Tony explained, tapping on the screen while she held it, showing her exactly how it worked.

"This is one of your older models," Bruce pointed out, nothing more than a statement, and Tony nodded.

"I thought it would be easier," he explained, and she tried to give him a grateful smile, and he seemed to understand her point, though she was unsure if she was successful.

"Can I work in here?" she asked, and he nodded, looking all the more excited, and she liked seeing Tony smile, it made her happy.

She said as much, and Tony looked about ready to burst, holding his own hands, looking at her the way he looked at one of his inventions, and she set her tablet down to hold out her arms. He stared at them for a moment before Bruce nudged him, motioning towards her, and he realized what she wanted. 

It seemed that Tony was as touch starved as her, as he wasn't quite sure how to hug her, but he held on tightly, and she found she had to be the Bruce in this particular situation, looking at him from over Tony's shoulder, and the older man was smiling at both of them with an expression that could only be described as fond.

"Thank you, Tony," she said, picking up the tablet, "I'm excited."

"I'm glad," he said, tapping her chin, "You have fun, okay? If you want anything else, just ask, I will give you literally anything."

She laughed at that, ducking her head as she looked down at her tablet. "Thank you, Tony. I think this is good."

She was finally allowed to learn. Allowed to learn whatever she wanted whenever she wanted, which was more than she ever expected to be allowed to do in her entire life. Hopefully she had enough time to learn it all.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Okay, but can we agree the first scene is the cutest shit, like I can just see it, because Bruce is such a sweetie and the two hang out a lot, so you'd think they were pretty comfortable with each other, and I know I have them interacting a lot off-screen, but know they hang out a lot. A lot.

So I know I didn't show her learning in this, but I just wanted to set it up, because it's gonna take some time, but you know, I wanted fluff.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!