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Standing in front of her best friend, her eyes wet with unshed tears as she fidgets with the bangle around her wrist, Kamala feels a lot smaller and younger than she really is.
“Can you promise me something before you go?”
“What is it?” Bruno’s immediate response makes Kamala think that he was waiting for her to ask something of him.
“Promise me you’ll call me. When you’re bored, or… whatever. I wanna know that you’re still there.”
If it’s possible to feel even more vulnerable, she does now. They’ve talked since the showdown with the DODC, but they haven’t talked about what happened before that, when she thought he was— thought he was… gone. Really, actually, gone.
“Still there?” Bruno is searching her face, briefly confused of what she means by that. Then, she feels a tear trail down her cheek and she watches as realization hits him. “Oh. Yes, I’ll do that.”
Kamala is appreciative of him being so Bruno about all this. This is the first time she’s admitting to him that she’s still traumatized from what happened. She mumbles a thank you and then rushes into a hug, making him have to uncross his arms.
Bruno doesn’t respond right away when it comes to the hug. All these years they’ve spent together, growing up together, and he’s still a little surprised by her affection. But soon his arms are around her shoulders and his face is pressed into her hair and her shaky breathing begins to even.
Kamala doesn’t want to let go of the perfect embrace they’re sharing, but she knows that she has to.
So, she does.
“Can you promise me something too?” He asks her.
“Sure.”
“Promise me… that you’ll be okay.”
“Bruno,” She shrugs off his concern. “I’m a superhero! I’ll be fine.”
“I know you’re a superhero, Kamala.” Bruno sighs. “You are the strongest, most courageous person I know, and you can do anything you set your mind to. But… that’s never going to stop me from worrying about you.”
It’s some kind of confession, she realizes. There’s something incredibly revealing and vulnerable about it, and she can tell that this is one of the last things he’s saying to her in-person for a while. She has this sense, based on the way he’s speaking and the way he’s looking at her, that there is something unresolved between them, although she can’t fully grasp what .
There are so many things she wants to say, could say, and yet she says nothing.
“I need to go.” Bruno states dejectedly, and she thinks it’s a shame that he sounds so sad when he should be happy and excited. Caltech is going to be so good for him. It’s like, his dream come true! Just because she’s sad, doesn’t mean he should be too. This is what he wanted, right?
“Yeah, I know.” She wipes at her eyes, nodding. “Bye, Bruno.”
“Bye, Kamala.”
When he drives away, she waves at the car until it’s out of sight.
Then, when it’s gone, she remains in place, waiting for her heart to stop aching. It doesn’t, but eventually, she has to move from the spot anyway.
MANY MONTHS LATER...
Kamala knows what crushes feel like for her, she is distinctly aware of exactly how it feels when she’s infatuated with someone. It’s like fireworks, bright and extravagant.
But fireworks don’t last forever, they only exist in short bursts.
When she likes someone, it’s not a constant. Sure there are those bursts, like fireworks, but even when she’s infatuated, that’s not an always.
Crushes come and go. They can end as soon as they start, they feel all-consuming in those moments, those bursts, but they aren’t an always.
The way Kamala feels about Bruno—her love for him—is different. That’s an always. Not just a now, not just a then. She feels it always. It’s not a firework. It’s more like a light that’s always on, even in the dark.
She feels it on the bad days, and the good days, on days that are somewhere in between. She feels it when they’re together, but also when they’re far away from each other.
It's a love so familiar, well-known, instinctive, so close and dear to her heart that sometimes she doesn’t even notice it’s there.
Now he’s here, he's back in Jersey City, he’s home, and these feelings have never been clearer to her.
“Bruno,” Kamala says while laughing. “that’s your lying-Bruno voice.”
“No. No, this is my regular-Bruno voice.” He replies defensively, his voice cracking a little in the process.
She laughs even more. “Your voice is cracking.” Kamala attempts to stifle her laughter with the sleeve of her sweater, but Bruno’s laughing too.
It’s like she’s living in a memory she’s played in her head a hundred times over, their legs dangling off the roof, the Jersey City skyline in front of them, Circle-Q slushies beside them, the sounds of their laughter in the air, these lingering unresolved feelings that have only gotten stronger over time, and the thought that this is where they’re meant to be.
As their laughter subsides, she leans back on her palms, still covered by the sleeves of her sweater.
“I missed this.”
“You missed what?”
“This.” Kamala states as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “You and me. Us.”
“Oh.” Bruno replies. Kamala can tell he wasn’t expecting her to say that. He gives her a shy smile. “I missed us too.”
Uggghhh... How is it possible that he’s even more endearing than he was all those months ago?
Well, months ago she didn’t realize she was falling in love with him… So, yeah, that probably has something to do with it?
She has the urge to grab his face and kiss him, even simply on the cheek, but she gets the sense that would be too much without confessing first.
Confessing… how is she going to do that, exactly?
Saying ‘I love you’ really shouldn’t be that big of a deal for her, she does it all the time! But, it’s… different this time, right now, ‘cause it’s Bruno.
It's Bruno and he's her best friend, he's absolutely the smartest person she knows, he always goes along with whatever outlandish plan she comes up with, he's always been there to support her — even when she wasn't appreciating that and him enough, he deserves everything good and wonderful, and he deserves so much love and it kills her the way he was so deprived of it before they met.
Rule #1 of confessing your love for not just anyone but your best friend to said best friend is probably something like "don’t overthink it!" and rule #2 of confessing your love for your best friend to said best friend is probably something like "speak from the heart!"
Kamala’s not exactly always the best at communicating what she means, at least not without overcomplicated plans or a drawing utensil in hand, but she thinks she can follow both those rules.
There are things that she’s wanted to say to Bruno for a while, and over the phone didn’t feel like the right time to say those things.
Although, there was that one time when they called each other particularly late into the night...
(“Come back soon. It’s boring here without you.”
“Life as a full-fledged superhero is boring? You have got to be kidding, KK.”
Then she had said, half-mumbling, “maybe I just miss you” because she did.
He'd replied “I miss you too. I’m… always gonna miss you.” and his voice was all quiet and soft)
...and Kamala nearly broke down and told him everything.
She didn’t, though. She had swallowed her feelings. Something she was not used to doing, and even less used to doing with him.
“Hey,” Kamala pokes him in the arm, a habit of when she wants him to pay attention to her, even though she’s already got his full attention right now. “Can I— Can we talk about something kinda serious and not so fun for a second?”
She knows his response even before he does respond, because they talk about anything and everything. At least, they usually do. “Yeah, of course.”
Kamala takes a steady breath in and out, trying to gather her thoughts that have been scattered around her brain for months, a completely unorganized mess. “I really was so scared when I thought that…” She trails off and then attempts again to finish the thought “When I thought you were—”
“Kamala,” Bruno sighs, interrupting. “I’m—”
“No. Stop.” She reaches out to him again, and this time she puts her hand on his arm. “Just… just listen. Please.”
Bruno listens, because of course he does. He's quiet and attentive again, and months ago maybe Kamala would have pulled her hand away from his arm by now or maybe not, but right now she wants to keep it there — it’s grounding. Bruno is grounding. He’s the one consistently keeping her tethered to the Earth even when it feels like she’s on another planet or up in the clouds. This is one of many reasons it was so hard to imagine losing him, to think about him not being there in her future.
“I... I used to think losing your friendship was the worst possible scenario. And then, I heard that Circle Q exploded, and— and I was so scared when I thought you were… gone, because for a moment, I had to picture my life without you in it.” Kamala’s breath is shaky now as she continues. “Being realistic—yes, I can be realistic, okay?—I know we most likely aren’t going to be best friends forever. Best friends lose touch, and they fight, and they don’t stay together forever. You got into Caltech, you were gonna make new friends, and maybe not wanna talk to me as much anymore…” She mumbles that last part, feeling self-conscious.
She reminds herself that’s not what happened, and that it was only an initial, irrational fear. They both know that.
“But I thought, even if we do lose touch, we’d come back to each other.” Truth be told, Kamala didn’t really realize that’s how she thought about it until that notion was threatened. “When I heard that Circle Q exploded, in that moment I realized that wasn’t going to happen. That would be it.”
She lets go of his arm only to put her hand over his hand, it’s a light, gentle touch, hesitant even; her fingers ever so barely grazing the top of his hand.
“I don’t really have the future all figured out,” Isn't that an understatement? It feels like she rarely has anything figured out. Kamala frowns and shrugs, and then looks him in the eye, trying to show him all the adoration and affection she feels. “but I know that no matter what that future is, you should be there. I want you there. I know that.”
Bruno is speechless as he looks at her, taken aback by her tenderness and honesty. Kamala’s heart is beating loud in her chest as she wonders if anyone else leaves him speechless and awed like she does.
“You make it so hard for me.” He says, not looking away from her.
“I make what hard for you?”
He doesn’t say anything in response at first, swallowing nervously, but her hand relaxes where it is resting on his, her fingers no longer only grazing his skin — her way of giving him permission to say whatever’s on his mind.
He must recognize it as such because he speaks again. “You make it so hard for me not to fall in love with you.” Kamala gasps soundlessly and involuntarily, because wow does it feel really good to hear him say that. “And I wish that I could stop—”
“Huh? Why?”
Bruno looks at her like she’s just said something ridiculous and crazy just now. “Because I’m your friend, because you don’t feel the same way, because you are the incredible Kamala Khan, Jersey City’s Ms. Marvel, and I’m just… me.” After saying all that in a sort-of panicky rush, Bruno breaks eye contact with her. “A sidekick. At most.”
“Bruno.” Kamala wants him to look at her again, and she tugs at his hand to further emphasize this. “All that stuff I was saying to you before? That was my love confession.”
“What?” He finally looks back at her, incredulous.
“Yeah.” Kamala admits, still serious, but then she smiles, a little teasing, a little proud, but oh-so-fond. “See? Told you I can be subtle.”
He looks at her speechless again, blinking once, then twice, and she doesn’t stop her smile from morphing into a grin at his reaction. “I— Please, can I kiss you right now?”
Kamala doesn’t even give him a verbal response, because she doesn’t want to wait any longer. She has all of this love and affection and she needs to express it. If she doesn't, she'll burst. She responds by leaning forward, closing her eyes, and connecting her lips to his.
He kisses her back. She doesn’t know exactly what she was expecting from kissing her best friend of nine years, but this is a lot better than anything she’s imagined out of sheer, childish curiosity.
Kamala pulls away first before opening her eyes and looking at him with another grin. “You can.”
There’s hesitancy to his movement, but he cups her cheek and gently strokes her cheek with his thumb as he kisses her.
When they break away this time, both with flushed cheeks, they laugh and smile, and it feels so right.
She finally understands why her relationship with Bruno is so different from her relationship with anyone else. These feelings she’s had for who knows how long, all of a sudden they all make sense.
“Hi.”
“Hi.” Bruno replies, laughing a little more. His happiness is all over his face and in his voice, and she loves it so much. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while, so this is… crazier for me than when you got superpowers.”
“You should have said something to me sooner.”
Bruno shakes his head. “You don’t just tell your best friend that you’re in love with her.”
(“You’re Kamala Khan. If you wanna save the world? Then you’re gonna save the world.” )
(“You are the strongest, most courageous person I know, and you can do anything you set your mind to. But… that’s never going to stop me from worrying about you.”)
(“I miss you too. I’m… always gonna miss you.” )
She realizes now that he had been telling her all along that he loved her, just without saying those exact words. That’s what that confession from all those months ago really was.
Maybe some part of her had known what he was saying, maybe that’s why she thought about it so often and replayed it in her head over and over.
“Well, you should when it’s me.”
“I didn’t think that you even liked me like that… I didn’t want to make things weird between us or make you uncomfortable.”
The idea that he would make her feel uncomfortable with his affection for her is an idea so ridiculous and irrational that it’s nearly amusing and very Bruno.
“It’s always gonna be weird with us,” Kamala moves so that their shoulders are touching and then elbows him playfully. “It’s us.”
He laughs in agreement at this, the two of them smiling at each other before she becomes serious again. “But you would never make me feel uncomfortable.”
He smirks. “Never ever?”
“Never ever ever.” She confirms resolutely.
Bruno smiles in disbelief and takes her hand, intertwining their fingers. It makes her feel all sorts of giddy and excited that he’s the one initiating their physical affection.
“And you’re not just a sidekick, okay? You may be a sidekick, but you’re a hero in your own right, too! And— And what’s wrong with sidekicks, anyway? They deserve love too.”
“So, you really… like me?”
She laughs a little at the confusion that is still somehow present in his voice. “Yes!”
“That’s what I’ve wanted for so long but I never thought it’d be… real.” Bruno turns his head away from her briefly as he says this, staring out at the city, Kamala takes this as an opportunity to give him a kiss on the cheek.
“This is real. This is very real.”
Bruno’s smile is sweet and loving when he turns his face back to her. Kamala has an idea, so she gets to her feet and tugs again at his hand. “Come on, get up.”
“We’re getting up?”
“We’re getting up.”
“Why?” He laughs, shaking his head, but standing up with her.
Kamala slips her hand out of his but then holds it out in front of her. “Because, Bruno Carrelli, you owe me a dance.”
“I owe you a dance?”
“You do.” Kamala replies, her palm still outstretched.
Bruno takes her hand again but turns it over to press a kiss to her knuckles. Her mouth opens involuntarily again, her eyes wide and she knows she must be blushing.
“Okay.” Bruno grins at her, clearly enjoying her reaction.
When the heck did he get so bold all of a sudden? He was the awkward, hesitant, dorky Bruno Carrelli she knew so well just a few minutes ago!
…Not that she was complaining, of course. No, not in the slightest.
“May I have this dance?”
“But of course you may.” Kamala’s voice is overly, comedically, posh.
This gets a small laugh out of Bruno. “At least it’s not your zombie impersonation.”
Later, after they dance on the roof of the Circle Q together, Kamala gathers the confidence to ask Bruno what's now weighing on her mind. “Does this change things? With us? I mean, obviously, it does, in a way, at least I’m assuming it does... but can we still be best friends, too?”
“Well, uh, we know what it’s like to kiss each other now. Hard to see how that doesn’t change things with us.”
“Yeah.” She mutters with a soft smile, remembering the moment fondly. “But-”
“But, I’m always going to be your best friend, KK. Always. No matter what happens, it will never change what we are to each other.”
“Then what are we to each other?”
“Whatever you want us to be.”
“No. Whatever we want.” Kamala corrects him. There’s no way she’s letting him leave his feelings out of this.
“Whatever we want.” Bruno echoes.
They end up going on a date, although it didn’t start as a date exactly.
They were hanging out like they always used to, before superhero powers and Caltech and big responsibilities, at a bowling + arcade place they liked to visit sometimes. She was wearing her awesome new Pikachu hat.
At some point, she asked him if it was a date, and he said that he’d like it if it was, and she agreed with that. From there, they'd mutually agreed that it was their first date.
But there’s still that lingering question. “What are we now?”
Neither of them can come up with a solid answer.
“We’ll figure it out.”
“Yeah, OK, we’ll figure it out. But, our ‘figuring out’… is that with or without the kissing? I know my preference,” She chuckles a little awkwardly. “but what about you?”
The answer to her question comes in the form of him cupping her face and pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.
“It can definitely be with.” The quietness of his voice—so soft in a busy, noisy place like this, that she would have missed it if she wasn’t listening for it—tells her that it’s his preference too. So does the way he lingers near her forehead when he says it.
She smiles, soft and slow, and closes her eyes.
She’s suddenly very grateful that she had taken off her awesome pikachu hat earlier when they were bowling.
Forehead kisses are a very (very!) welcome development. Although, it’s all so comfortable and natural that it’s hard to think that this was ever missing from her relationship with him.
Once he pulls back a little, she opens her eyes again and tentatively raises her hands to put her hands over his.
“Is this okay, too?” She asks.
“Yeah, this is okay.”
At the end of their date, Kamala leaves with an awesome ‘Sword of Doom!’ and Bruno leaves with a stuffed dolphin.
“Sorry, dude. There wasn’t enough points for two Swords of Doom.”
Based on the way he’s looking at her as she holds up the ‘Sword of Doom!’ in front of her, he doesn’t mind.
The next time they go out together, it’s for gyros. Yet another thing they’ve done together many times before.
The differences being now they’re calling it a date, and bantering in a way that is definitely flirting.
(Or at least, she’s pretty sure it’s flirting? Bruno insists to her that he doesn’t know how to flirt, but she’s not really buying it.)
On their second date, she explains to him that she doesn’t want to tell anyone about them yet. That she wants this to be just their thing for now.
Then, she launches into a whole explanation of why, but halfway through it she realizes that he already knows — and understands.
He really is the best.
(...The gyro guy knows, though. Oops?)
(If Nakia knew that the gyro guy found out before her, she’d be absolutely livid. They've only just gotten past the whole thing with Kamala not telling her about the superpower stuff, too...)
When they do tell Nakia, she is completely unsurprised.
“Yeah, I’ve known for weeks.” Nakia says. Kamala can tell that the only reason Nakia isn’t upset at all that they’re telling her now is because she already knew — well, that, and she obviously loves her friends and is happy for them. “You guys keep sneaking off, and I know it’s not superhero related or else I’d been in the loop.”
She’s right, of course. Ever since the showdown with the DODC, Kamala has taken her promise to keep Nakia updated on all things Ms. Marvel related very seriously.
Nakia looks directly at Bruno. “And, we both know Kamala is not subtle about anything, especially how she feels.”
Nakia and Bruno both start laughing, and Kamala looks appalled at the two of them. “Hey! Naks, I thought we both agreed that Bruno is the one who gets ganged up on in this friendship trio!”
(All things considered, Kamala thinks telling Nakia goes really well!)
(They’re still not telling her the gyro guy found out first, though. They’re never telling her that.)