Tony knew that Bruce needed a few more things to take up time in his day. The man ate, slept, and did experiments in one of the (Tony called it Bruce's, but the man refused to claim it as his own despite using it all year) various labs. Tony asked if he wanted to go out to clubs, and he refused, he offered endless spots at galas and sporting events and concerts, and again and again the man said no. Tony didn't know what else to try. He even offered him spots in renewable energy panels Pepper had set up for him to run (part of that was the fact that he didn't want to go alone but still) and Bruce continued to say no. Tony Stark was at a loss.
"What do you want to do? You gotta give me something here, buddy."
Bruce looked up from his breakfast (black coffee and a banana- could you get any more plain?) and shrugged. "I just like doing my work here, Tony. You've given me more than I could ask for already."
Tony knew Bruce was used to not staying in the same place. Bruce was used to running away due to the Jolly Green Giant interfering. But Tony didn't want Bruce to continue to do this. Just because he's had to do that in the past doesn't mean he needs to continue.
"If you could do anything- what would it be? I'll get it. I'm me."
Bruce appeared to be torn between chuckling and sighing so it came out a bit of a mix of both and the man pinched the bridge of his nose. "Honestly? I," Bruce paused, and got a bit of a sheepish grin on his face. "Well. I miss teaching at a University."
There was a moment of silence between the two men before Tony turned on his heel and hollered behind him, "I'll make a few phone calls."
And make a few phone calls he did, well, he and Pepper anyways. Before Bruce knew it he was sending a resume to the President of a small, local University and going in for numerous interviews. Since he had broken Harlem and Loki's attempted takeover of New York The Hulk was easily connected back to Bruce Banner if you knew where to look. The University President knew this of course, but, thanks to Tony's smooth talking (and whining and threatening and kicking and even offering to grant the University's science department some funding if they took Bruce on) Bruce had a job and was walking into a scheduling meeting. He was in and out in a few hours, his fellow staff had been shooting him every look from glares to envy to awe making him quite uncomfortable. A manila folder was thrust into his hands with his schedule and office location and he was told classes started in a week. Before he knew it he was escorted out of the building and driving back to Stark Tower, utterly baffled and completely speechless.
It didn't take long for him to hunt down Tony, since all Bruce needed to do was ask Jarvis. He was told to go to Tony's garage (there were three total) and he was off like a shot. He was torn between hyperventilating and grinning like an idiot, but did his best to remain calm and collected. It wouldn't do for the other guy to make an apeparance a week before his job began, after all. The door slid open for him due to the motion detector and Bruce slipped inside and saw a pair of shoes sticking out from underneath one of Tony's sport's cars which was most likely worth more than a small house.
"How did you make this work?"
Tony rolled himself out from underneath the vehicle and raised an eyebrow, face entirely covered in grease but looking completely content. "Make what work?"
Bruce deadpanned, "my teaching gig."
"Oh that worked?" The genius billionaire had an impish grin on his face, and before Bruce could reply he rolled himself back under the car.
Bruce ran a hand through his hair and pushed down a groan. This was actually happening and he couldn't believe it. He couldn't even catch his breath. He hadn't been at a University since he went to visit Betty and that alone had been rattling enough for him. The man was excited and terrified and wasn't yet sure how to deal with this whirlwind of emotions. He mumbled something about ordering Thai takeout food to Tony and heard an enthusiastic reply which sounded like a blur to him as he headed up the stairs. He had an office to move into and lesson plans to make.
The first day of classes were upon him. Bruce hadn't slept a wink in the past three days and had forgotten to eat at most meals. He had forgotten to buy a dress jacket (or nice slacks, or a spare collared button up, or dress shoes…) so Tony had hastily made a comment about letting Bruce borrow some of his 'smart people clothes' until he got the chance to run to the store. He knew that most people didn't really care what the Professors wore but since his job placement had become the fastest spreading rumor in all of New York he figured it couldn't hurt.
His first class was a really basic introduction to chemistry course. Tony had gripped and squirmed about this, since Bruce's expertise was in nuclear physics and not chemistry but Bruce said it didn't matter. He was allowed to teach CHEM 103, CHEM 230, and PH 351. The President had said once (if) Bruce stuck around long enough, he would get more say in what he taught. Right now he was placed where he was needed and Bruce was okay with that. He was teaching again and that was what mattered.
He was in the lecture hall at his desk booting the projector up. The hall was average size for an intro chemistry course, about 250 chairs, it didn't scare him away; Bruce had taught classes with over 400 students in them before. He had no lesson plan ready but he did that on purpose. The first class was almost always just going over the syllabus, he didn't want to be known as the Professor who was all work.
There was a tug at the door and Bruce looked up. Class didn't start for another hour, and students were already arriving? He walked over to the door, pulling his (Tony's) tan suit jacket around his shoulders and tried to keep his chin held high. Opening the door he was shocked to find not just one student, or two, but at least fifteen kids all sitting in the hallway whispering and laughing and talking amongst themselves. This had to be the most punctual bunch of college freshman he had ever seen. Right once the noticed him, they all looked over and stopped talking. Bruce cleared his throat. "Are all of you here for CHEM 103?" He asked hesitantly, expecting most of them to shake their heads and say they were there for something else, but there was a tugging at the back of his mind that told him he was wrong. They all nodded. Damn. So much for a quiet morning. "Well here you can all come in. Prop the door open."
He walked over to the projector to see if it was working or not but found himself stopped when there were a handful of small chuckles coming from behind him. The students had gathered into various seats, all within the first three rows, but were close enough so they could talk to one another. There was the snickering sound again. Like the type that Tony would let slip out when he was hiding something. He turned around to face the students were immediately stopped laughing when they looked at him. He raised an eyebrow. "I'm a person you know. You don't all have to act like robots around me."
A lanky boy with spiky brown hair shook his head. "Uh, no Sir we were looking at your slides," he trailed off and gestured to the power point displayed on the wall through the projector. Instead of his first Introduction to Chemistry slide, there was a little doodle of a Hulk treating Loki like a rag doll and a hastily scrawled caption that says "rawr don't make me angry" below it. Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He was going to kill Tony later.
He turned back to the students. "What do you think, should I keep it up there?" He was met with silence as the group stared at him before a small girl with beat headphones around her neck raised a hand. "So it's true? You're The Hulk?"
Bruce rung his hands together. "Um, yes that is true. I'm- uh- yeah."
"That's awesome!" There was a chorus of explanations from the students and a tension evaporated into the air, making Bruce breathe a sigh of relief. Granted, he knew that this was just the explanation of a small portion of the class, probably the class most interested in him since they were here so early. But he would take what he would get.
The rest of the hour went be relatively quickly, with Bruce refusing to answer any more Hulk related questions until the rest of the class got there because he was sure the other students would have the same ones.
Soon enough almost all the seats were filled and the doors were shut. The clock read 9:31 and class was ready to begin. Bruce adjusted the microphone on his shirt. "Good morning, class. I hope you are all having a good first day of class so far. I'm Bruce Banner and this is CHEM 103 so if you're in the wrong class you can leave." No one moved. Good.
"Are you The Hulk?" One kid in the back shouted. A murmur ran through the crowd and some kids gasped. He hoped this rumor was common knowledge already because it was about to be if it wasn't.
Bruce turned on the projector that he had previously switched off. There was a burst of laughter from the students who arrived first and gradually the others joined it. Bruce had to push back a grin. Maybe Tony wasn't so bad. "Yes."
"So you saved New York?"
"I had a lot of help."
"And you attacked Harlem a few years ago!"
"Unfortunately yes."
"What was that thing at Culver University?"
Bruce shifted uncomfortably. "That was an attack on me, there was no hostile threat for anyone else involved."
"Will that happen here?"
"Hopefully not." There was another ripple through the crowd. "If this makes anyone uncomfortable feel free to leave." No one moved this time, either. Well then.
The rapid fire question and answer session continued. Bruce hadn't even gotten the chance to bring up the syllabus yet. The same boy who had pointed out the projector's crude drawing raised his hand. Bruce nodded his head at him and asked for the boy's name. "I'm Peter- um- is it true you know Tony Stark?"
The class erupted. "Settle down!" There was talk of the Avengers and Tony and Captain America and Black Widow and Hawkeye and Thor and Loki and everything else under the sun, but once Bruce began speaking again they almost immediately quieted. "Yes I know the Avengers, I sort of have to."
"But you live at Stark Tower, right?"
"Yes. Technically it's the Avenger's Tower now but you catch my drift."
More chatter. He wasn't going to do anything productive today, and mentally braced himself for two more classes probably very similar to this one.
"Can you turn into the Hulk? You know, for a demonstration?"
Bruce barked out a laugh. "Uh, No."
"Why not?"
"Any more questions?" There was an odd forced laughter around the room as Bruce scanned the crowd animatedly.
A girl in the back raised her hand. "What makes you turn into the Hulk?"
"My heart rate, mostly. Anger or adrenaline will do it too. I can on command if I want." That shut everyone up really quick. "But I'm not going to so don't ask."
By the time class got out at 10:45 he had gotten absolutely nothing done. Even his demo lay in the front of the class untouched. But nobody made a move to get out of their seats. It had been questions and answers all day- questions about the Hulk had turned into questions about his teammates. Was Cap the leader or was Iron Man (Cap), was Loki really Thor's brother (yes), did alien life truly exist (yup), what caused the portal to be opened above New York (an energy cube), what's that (I can't tell you), are you sure (yes), are you dating Black Widow (what other questions do you have), are you dating Tony Stark (Peter shut up), are you sure you can't turn into the Hulk for a demo (yes, dammit). Bruce had spoken more in the past hour and 45 minutes than he had in the past month.
He loved his job. He didn't know when he was actually going to start doing it if the questions progressed like they did but in theory it sounded like a pretty okay gig. Maybe Tony was alright after all.
A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! I'm not sure where the concept of Bruce teaching at some point came into my head, maybe it was mentioned in a movie or in the comics I can't remember, or it was just an idea I had. Regardless or the reason it's what's happening. This will be a series of one-shots so all of the chapters can be read alone, I have a few ideas lined up but updates may be slow so please be patient. Feedback is always appreciated and it would make me very happy if you were to review. And don't worry, all of the avengers and some other characters will make various appearances. Thanks everyone!