justonecondition | Office #19

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Office #19 | Wednesday

Now that a new semester was starting, Bruce was back to holding regular office hours. It was a little different than it had been last semester, though, because instead of taking some time out of his personal time at the hotel to make himself available to students for a few hours, office hours were looking more like the personal time, while his time at 33 Apocalypse ran the risk of being a little more social.

That was fine, though, because Bruce's office was comfortable (read: spartan), and if he showed up significantly earlier than he assumed most students had an interest in waking up, he figured that he was guaranteed at least a few solid hours of introvert recharge time before anyone came by to bother him.

Uh. Talk to him. Not 'bother.' He didn't know why he'd thought 'bother.'

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"So you're not in my class." Yes, that was worth breaking the routine for.

There was no plaque up with his name on it -- which had been a conscious choice on Bruce's part that had required being rather awkward at the custodian who had come by to put one up -- but there was a degree from Penn State hanging behind his desk, just low enough to be mostly obstructed from view by Bruce's head.

"Can I help you with something?

So Kenzi was sliiiiding forward more than a little obviously, and tilting her head, trying to read that. She gave a grin and a you caught me shrug to Bruce's statement, and said, "Want a flower?"

That wasn't a no. Or a yes.

"Does the flower come with strings attached?" He felt as though he could comfortably ask that at this point.

Kenzi made a show of examining the flower, bouncing on her heels as she considered how to answer that with a question. She might have to ignore it! That would be cheating! Although-- hmm, Dr. Bruce Banner, according to that diploma-- had already kinda lost....

"Doesn't look like it." She grinned and held it out. "And she won't miss one."

Bruce didn't lean forward to take it yet. "Who's 'she'?"

"Bo. The Security Chief." Kenzi tilted her head toward Bo's office down the hall. "She loves when I decorate her place." Tilted her head again, Kenzi added, "Dr. Banner, right?"

She hadn't known his name when she'd walked in, but now she did, so -- oh. His diploma. Of course. Nicely done, Banner.

On reflex rather than out of a conscious desire to obstruct what she had obviously already seen, Bruce scooted his chair back just a touch.

"Well, now you have to tell me your name or it isn't fair," he said wryly.

"Fair, schmair... It's actually Kenzi. If you're not Russian you can't pronounce the last name, so I never bother with it." Kenzi grinned and perched one of the flowers through the handle of a file drawer, adding, "Tell Fosse I gave it to you. He'll be sad if he thinks Bo was giving you flowers."

Not that Fosse ever had a prayer, again, but, you know, why torture the guy who cleaned up 90% of the messes Kenzi caused?

Bruce thought his ability to pronounce other languages would surprise her, but he let it go. "Are you sure Bo doesn't want that flower for herself?"

"Who can be sure of anything?" Kenzi grinned again. "Why don't you ask her?"

"I don't know who Bo is," Bruce pointed out. "And I think offering her a flower would be a weird introduction."

"She's had worse," Kenzi confided. The question-game seemed to only be off and on now. "Security, and all. I only get another six or seven weeks to redecorate her office before they kick me out, so. Someone else will have to fill in."

"...I don't think I'm the best candidate for that job," Bruce decided. "What's wrong with her own decorations?"

"They're boring! And normal. And always the same." Which last thing Kenzi objected to the most strenuously. "And I keep finding cool things like water balloons or glitter that have to be shared."

Aren't you glad she'll be gone before she decides she likes you enough to decorate for you, Bruce?

"Hang on, hang on," Bruce said, finding himself both skeptical and, against his better judgment, entertained by this. "You're telling me you just found a few dozen kusudama flowers lying around?"

Edited 2013-07-11 02:06 (UTC)

"Would you believe me if I said that?" Kenzi was delighted at the chance to answer a question with a question again. "... I did find the giant stuffed duck. At the Post Office. But it's moved on by now."

"Giant stuffed..." Okay, okay, Bruce felt a little dumb for not seeing this sooner. He rubbed his temples. "This Bo doesn't love your contributions to her office decor, does she?"

"She adores the office chair I got her. It has a massage setting," Kenzi said in determination. "And it's better than Professor Skywalker's, don't let anyone tell you different."

"...Did you get Professor Skywalker's desk chair too?" He had to hand it to her, that was a really unprecedented level of ass-kissing. He had never even thought of that back in high school. Of course, he couldn't have afforded it anyway.

"Nah, just heard Bo being smug about it." Kenzi looked pleased with herself. "There was this whole thing with imagining the world back into existence, and while I was helping do that, I thought, 'why not get Bo a really awesome chair?'" She looked cagey. "The rest of it just comes up, sometimes. The meditation and gun place had balloon weapons they were giving away one week."

Imagining the world back into existence...?

"So you've made a habit of it," he assessed, still feeling like he was missing a piece here. "Is there a reason you're so generous with her, or...?"

Honestly, he didn't ordinarily tend to ask this many questions of people. It felt like prying, and he didn't like to be asked questions this much. But after their little game earlier, he felt it was fair to make an exception.

"Because she's my friend!" In a tone that implied duh. "And just bringing her coffee got boring." There was that word again. Possibly Kenzi's greatest life ambition was to avoid boring. "Which reminds me of my question."

You can probably guess what kind of question it is by now, Dr. Banner.

No, actually.

"...I don't have a coffee maker," Bruce said, taking a stab in the dark and winding up truly fantastically left of center.

"Hmmmm." You might by the end of the week, Bruce. Better lock your door. Possibly secure the windows and air vents. Kenzi liked a challenge.

"Do you have a girlfriend? Boyfriend? Other?"

She'd been going to just ask if getting life-force sucked out of him via face-sucking was something he'd be okay with, but now that Bo was already a topic of conversation, that verged on TMI.

"Uh." Bruce appeared to be choking on nothing for a moment. When he stopped doing that, he replied slowly, "I'm not sure that's the kind of question I should be answering for a student."

Office #19 | Wednesday

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