The One Percent:
Chapter One – Important Cofactors
It just wasn't fair. It was only Monday morning, and Tony was already in trouble. He was pretty sure that Fury had it in for him – the guy never liked him. Tony Stark; genius, billionaire's son, flirt and class clown, was now the principal's number one enemy. He hadn't even done anything wrong yet. Yet. But Fury had called him into his office, first thing in the morning to give him a warning.
"Only a month until prom, Stark. I don't want any more trouble from you, else you won't be going." He'd said, arms folding as he stared Tony down.
"Well we can't be having that. I'd be letting too many girls down, sir. What's the limit on number of dates, can I ask?"
"Tony, I'm serious. Behave yourself, or no prom. Now don't let the door hit you on the way out." So Tony had left, rolling his eyes and opening the door with a sigh. He walked out into the corridor, into the busy rush of school-kids running about, before bumping – with quite an impeccable force – into someone.
"Tony, you jerk." Bruce grinned as he turned to face the teen.
"I'm the jerk? You bumped into me, jackass." He winked.
"Psh, whatever. You planned it."
"Oh totally. I schedule my entire day around your whereabouts so I know where to crash land."
"Knew it." Bruce teased. "What you got next, hot shot?"
"Workshop. And you've got biology."
"How did you know tha-"
"I know everything." Tony smirked. Bruce just narrowed his eyes and nodded. "So... It's my birthday this weekend, Banner. You coming to my party?"
"Uh..." Bruce started, his face scrunching up a little, "I don't know Tony... I'm not a party person, you know that."
"You managed to come to Thor's little booze fest last Halloween."
"Yeah, and that went really well."
"I don't remember it being that ba-"
"Tony, you had so much to drink, you probably don't remember it at all." He snorted.
"Yeah, that's true. Remind me?"
"You tried to out drink Thor, and then started dancing on the table." Bruce chuckled.
"Really? I bet you loved that. Were you trying to shove dollars in my underpants?" Tony winked.
"I totally would have done if you'd been wearing any. You started stripping too." Bruce said with a raised eyebrow, and Tony let out a hearty laugh.
"You're lucky I didn't try to come on to you, Brucey. Wait until you see my moves."
"... Tony, you start every day by coming on to me."
"Yeah but that's just a warm up. You haven't seen me properly coming on to you yet. Notice the yet." Bruce just rolled his eyes again, but the smirk was still on his face. "So... you coming?"
"When is it?" He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Friday night, big guy. 7 o'clock. You up for it?" Tony grinned. He always got his way with Bruce, but the other boy's face had dropped.
"I uh... I can't do Fridays. Not at 7 anyway. Might drop by later I suppose." A shrug.
"What're you doing? What could possibly be more important than me, Banner? You're meant to answer to my every beck and call."
"I'm not your servant Tony."
"Maybe not, but let's face it... You'd look good in a maid costume." Tony winked, before the bell rang. Bruce just chuckled and shook his head.
"You're an idiot. I'll give you your present at school, Tony. I can't go to your party. Anyway," Bruce murmured, hoisting his bag over one shoulder and starting to back away, "Biology."
"Psh. Spoilsport. Fine, whatever. I'll meet you at lunch, big guy." Tony smirked, heading in the other direction.
"Have fun in workshop!" Bruce shouted after him, and Tony turned around to wink at him before continuing to walk. Bruce smiled to himself as he set off towards the biology classroom. He wished that he could go to Tony's party, but 7 o'clock on a Friday just wasn't a good time for him. That was when he saw his counsellor. The school had recommended that Bruce got a guidance counsellor for his anger issues, but he'd made sure that none of his friends knew. And god forbid, he never told his dad. He'd bike up to the therapist's office himself, for fear of his father ever finding out. He always told him he was going to the library for work, not that the man cared – he was always drunk.
The rest of the morning went pretty fast, and soon it was lunchtime. Bruce immediately grabbed a table, and pulled out his packed lunch. He always made his own food, partly because he wanted to avoid school canteen food, and partly because he didn't really have the money to buy himself a $2 sandwich every day.
"Earth to Banner?" Clint's voice suddenly asked. Bruce looked around and saw that Natasha and Clint had sat down beside him, and he hadn't even realised.
"Sorry, Clint... Wasn't with it then."
"Yeah, we noticed." Natasha smirked, settling down on the chair beside Clint, leaning into his side a little. The pair had been together for just over a year, and Bruce was glad that they didn't publicly display their affection aside from the subtleties of leaning on one another.
"What did you have this morning?" Bruce asked the pair.
"Well, Tasha had drama and dance, and I had two free periods so I went down to the gym." Clint chuckled, taking a bite of the school pizza he'd picked up. Bruce nodded, as if to say he approved of those lessons. "You?"
"Double biology." He smiled, picking up his cheese sandwich and taking a bite.
"Sounds great."
"It was pretty good. We were doing about genetics and stuff, and we learnt about the nucleotides, which are like the building blocks for DNA, and it was really fascinating, I'm not gonna lie. Did you know that it's because of your nucleotides that you have either a slow or fast metabolism? And they're very important cofactors in enzymatic reactions such-... You're not listening are you?"
"Not at all." Natasha grinned through a bite of her apple. "Watch out, here comes the football team." Bruce turned around to see the eleven meaty looking players walking through the canteen in tight fitting shirts and shorts. He quickly turned back to his food, much to the amusement of Natasha, although Clint didn't bat an eyelid. Seemed like Natasha already knew – without even needing to be told – that Bruce was attracted to guys. Within a matter of moments, Thor and Steve turned up at the table, taking a seat next to Natasha.
"Hey guys." Steve smiled as he sat down; that dazzling smile that makes the girls swoon, but he doesn't even know. Steve seemed to be completely oblivious to sexual attraction.
"Hey, Steve. Thor." Clint nodded to each of them, turning back to his pizza. Bruce offered them a shy smile, but kept his head down.
"Ah, my friends. Steven has done excellent on the field today. You would be most proud." Thor beamed, but not sitting down, instead turning around to go towards the canteen to buy his food. Clint looked over to Steve with a raised eyebrow.
"Why does he talk so weird?"
"Don't be a jerk. He's not that bad." Natasha grunted, nudging Clint playfully. "You know he's not from around here."
"Well where the hell is he from? Shakespeare-land?"
"I don't know. Shut up."
"Ooh, Clint's getting into trouble with the missus." Bruce chuckled, getting a smile from Steve, and a death glare from Natasha.
"What's he done now?" Tony's voice rung out as he settled down beside Bruce, a full tray of food in his hands.
"Just talking about Thor, no biggie." Clint shrugged, before looking at Tony's tray. "Jesus, Stark, how much food do you need?"
"It's not all for me, jackass."
"What are you pregnant or something? Eating for two?"
"No, birdbrain, it's for Bruce." Bruce looked up at him.
"M-me? Why are you buying food for me, Tony? I have a sandwich." He stammered.
"Yeah but I can't stand watching you eat that crap. You need some proper food. So I got you some pizza, and juice, and a tub of ice cream. Vegetarian pizza, naturally." Tony grinned as he put the plates out in front of Bruce, and moving his hand to ruffle his hair as he grabbed his own slice of pepperoni pizza and tucked in.
"Thanks." He smiled, nodding gently as he finished the cheese sandwich and picking up the pizza.
"Aw. This is too cute." Natasha smirked, leaning her head on Clint's shoulder as she watched Tony and Bruce. Tony just raised an eyebrow at her, and Bruce blushed slightly.
"Where did Thor go? We're back at practice in twenty minutes, and we all know the amount of food he buys will take about two hours to eat." Steve grumbled.
"Not for him it won't. He'll practically inhale it." Tony laughed, and the others chuckled along with him. "You guys all coming to my party this weekend?"
"Sure thing. When's it start?"
"Seven."
"Great. We'll be there, right, Nat?" Clint smiled, nudging her slightly.
"Only if you're driving us there."
"Obviously. Wouldn't want my little angel in the back of anyone else's car, hm?" He winked.
"Ew, Jesus you guys, get a room." Tony grumbled, screwing his face up.
"I think it's sweet." Steve smiled, earning a sour look from Tony.
"Well you would, Captain Virginity."
"Tony..." Bruce warned, giving him a stern look. Tony looked back at Bruce with an exasperated expression.
"Ooh, Tony's in trouble with the missus." Natasha winked.
When the bell went at the end of school, Bruce headed out of the building with his bag slumped over his back, heading towards the bike-sheds to get his bicycle, putting his helmet on before starting to cycle out. He heard the beep of a horn behind him, and turned around to see Tony's Audi pulling up beside him.
"You're not going home with that helmet on. Your hair will stick up." He teased.
"I'm not going home without it – what if I crash?"
"You won't crash if you get in my car."
"My parents always told me never to get in the car with strange men."
"I prefer the term 'mad scientist' to strange, but y'know. Whatever works. Now put the bike in the back and get in." Tony smiled. He always got his way with Bruce. The boy rolled his eyes and hopped off the bike, shoving it into the trunk before clambering in beside Tony.
"Happy now, mad scientist?" He asked, raising on eyebrow.
"On second thought, I'm more of an engineer than a scientist." Tony smirked as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the New York streets.
"No, Tony, you're a school-kid. You're not really anything yet."
"Excuse me? You do know I'm going to MIT as soon as finals are over, right? That makes me a certified genius. To be honest, I should be there already. Mom said I could have been there since 15." He grinned.
"Right. I'm sure that's right, but y'know. Imagine how different life would have been if you hadn't come to this school though." Bruce shrugged.
"I know. You'd be lost without me."
"I'm sure we'd still be in touch, Tony. I don't think I could forget about you after you strolled up to me on the first day of fourth grade and told me that seeing as we were the only two to get over 100 marks in the math tests, we were officially best friends."
"You still remember that?"
"You kidding? It was one of the most defining moments of elementary school. Except for when you used to chase me around the playground trying to kiss me." Bruce chuckled.
"See, if only you'd slowed down a bit. We could have spent the last eight years connected at the mouth." Tony winked, pulling up outside Bruce's house and switching off the engine.
"And I'm sure you'd have loved that."
"Damn straight. Now get out. I'll see you in the morning, big guy."
"Sure. See ya, Tony." Bruce smiled, hopping out of the car and moving to get his bike out of the trunk. Tony watched the boy go inside the house, waving at him every time he turned around. He smiled to himself as the door closed, starting up the car again. He paused for a minute when he heard raised voices coming from the house, but he shrugged it off and set off to Stark Mansion.
Bruce wasn't in school for the next two days.
When he finally came in on Thursday, he hobbled into Physics, one of the only lessons he had with Tony, with a black eye and a busted lip. He settled down beside Tony in silence, pressed his lips in a thin line and trying not to make eye contact. The rest of the class were engrossed in their work, but Tony hadn't stopped staring at Bruce.
"What the fuck happened to you?" He whispered, trying not to attract attention to them.
"Doesn't matter, Tony."
"Where have you been? Who did this to you?"
"Tony, drop it. It really doesn't matter." Bruce murmured. "Stop acting like it's the first time I've ever come in with a black eye."
"Yeah but someone's obviously picking on you. Who's done this to you? Is Betty Ross's big brother beating you up again?"
"No, no it's nothing. Tony, just leave it. I'm fine. It's just a few bruises."
"A few bruises and a limp. I saw the way you walked in here. Have you at least been to the hospital?" Tony asked, his brow furrowed.
"No. I don't need to. It's okay." He muttered, shaking his head as he got out his physics book.
"I'm taking you to the hospital in the free period this afternoon. No buts. And I'm gonna find out who did this to you." Tony said firmly, and Bruce just sighed.
"Tony, don't do-"
"No, Bruce. This has gone on for too long. I'm gonna find out who it is and I'm gonna screw them up, okay? They're gonna have to go through me if they think they're gonna get to you again."
"You really don't have t-"
"Yes I do. I have to help you. I don't like seeing you like this, Bruce. How many times has it been now? I'm gonn-"
"Tony, it's my dad! Okay? It's my fucking dad."
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