When America's sweetheart met the Green Thing. It's set same time (ish) of Tony and Clint meeting and all this is on same day, just going back and forth in time on the day.
10:39am Gym Class
"Banner, work those goddamn MUSCLES!" the gym instructor, a man with gold eyes and a shaved head yelled. He had a tendency to shout one word per sentence, Bruce thought. Maybe it was a disease or a verbal illness.
The boy partnered with Bruce, Steve Rogers, was doing at least sixty sit-ups a minute which made Bruce look worse than he was.
"Rogers!" the instructor yelled and Steve stood up quickly and saluted.
"Yes sir!"
"Show Banner here how to CLIMB like a man!"
Bruce watched the instructor walk away then turned to Steve. "I'm alright, I can climb." When I'm the Other Person, Bruce inwardly added.
"Commander told me too," Steve shrugged and set one foot and one hand on the rock-climbing wall. "I'm Steve Rogers."
"Bruce. Bruce Banner. I'm not especially active." Bruce admitted. Steve glanced over at a pretty brunette and Bruce smirked. "Who's she?"
"Who? Oh, Maria. Childhood best friend. We went our separate ways in high school."
"Because you got frozen." Bruce said. "I've heard your story. Serum, super soldier, frozen, just recovered."
"Yeah. That's my story." Steve said then glanced at Bruce. "We'd better climb."
"Great." Bruce sighed and got a grip on the rock handles jutting out from the wall. "So Maria? You two were just friends?"
"Yes." Steve said and he climbed up a metre effortlessly. "Just friends."
"Would you not like to be more? I know that look. I used to be the giver of that look." Bruce hauled himself up to Steve's height. "There was a girl."
Steve moved aside and a kid wearing glasses scuttled up like a spider. "A girl named..."
"Wendy Brooke, my neighbour. She was pretty and smart but older than me by three years. Last year, when I turned fifteen, she moved away to college somewhere in California." Bruce said sadly and climbed up some more. "Can I get down now?"
"Five more minutes and then I promise we'll go do some getting over Wendy Brooke." Steve said. Bruce glared at him but followed him up the wall.
"Oh the sluttiness of time." Bruce declared after a six minute period of climbing with no rest. He had recently re-read The Fault In Our Stars despite reservations about it being a romance, his least-favourite kind of novel. Steve didn't comment but stopped.
Bruce had a breather as they reached the top and Steve grabbed the top ledge. "Here we are. Now we can survey our kingdom." Steve whispered to himself. Bruce grinned and didn't say anything as Steve looked at Maria.
"Can we get down now?" Bruce looked down and gulped. It seemed that Tony or his companion, Clint, had done something outrageous because people were glaring at them or smirking at them. Bruce didn't like heights.
"Sure." Steve laughed and he slid down the wall with ease. "Come on, Banner."
"Uh." Bruce frowned and looked down. "Isn't there a rope or anything? Wait, if I fall, I die! There's no safety equipment or anything!"
"Well, yeah, I suppose. But you wouldn't die, you'd probably just break your legs." Steve called from the bottom. Pepper wandered over with a smile.
"Bruce, right?" she asked.
"Hi." he said and tested letting go of the wall. He momentarily swung outwards then clutched the ledge again. "I'm a bit stuck."
"Jump." Pepper told him.
"Are you crazy?"
"I'll catch you." Steve volunteered. Bruce wondered about this noble act then saw Maria at the bottom too.
"Ah, okay." Bruce braced himself and let go. He closed his eyes then landed in strong arms. He opened them to see Steve gently lying him on the ground.
"Okay?"
"Yeah. I just, my back hurts a bit. Your arms are quite strong and they bruised my back." Bruce stammered, aware of what an idiot he was.
"Crazy trust exercise." Steve told him, smiled then walked over to the treadmills. It's safe to say that Bruce did not follow.
Next chapter is Bruce and Clint meeting at breaktime. Review if you have any OC's you want me to put in! Will include if possible!
