Chapter Seven

Bruce was confused. He was happy, but confused. All of today he had been touched by the others. More than he has been the entire time he's been at the tower He had woken up the day before in Steve's arms. He had been awkward, but Steve had seemed totally at ease, even hugging him and (maybe) kissing his forehead (just a brush of lips). Then he had promptly disappeared for the day. Bruce had gone to the lab, taken one look at the formula that had stumped him in the dead of night, and solved it immediately. The accomplishment buoyed him through the rest of the day until he was able to stop himself before starting a new stage of his experiment. He had learned his lesson, more sleep = better work. He went to the kitchen, ate some leftover Chinese takeout, then went to bed.

He woke up the next morning and went to the main kitchen, which was when whatever was going on had started. It was small at first, but still surprising. Thor greeted him with his customary loud voice, but a hand clapping his shoulder startled him. It rested there for a moment and Bruce stood, completely still in shock. Thor went back to eating as if nothing had happened. Bruce shook it off, Thor was probably just slipping into his Asgardian culture like he did when he was wont to. He continued on and made his tea, then leaned against the counter and listened to his teammates' discussion. He glanced up as Natasha and Clint walked in arguing about something. Clint spotted him and jumped to his side.

"Right Bruce? You agree don't you?" He asked, sliding an arm around Bruce's shoulders. Bruce's mind blanked, going to the warmth he could feel pressed into his side where Clint stood. "Just say yes." He whispered into Bruce's ear.

"Uh… Yes?" Bruce hesitantly said. Clint nearly exploded.

"See! Bruce agrees! And someone as brilliant as Bruce would definitely know what he's talking about!" Clint then squeezed him in a one armed hug and was off again. Bruce sat dazed, feeling a blush spread across his cheeks and an answering warmth in his chest from getting touched and even complimented. He then looked at Natasha.

"What did I just agree to?" He asked her. She smirked.

"That Scooby Doo is way better then Snoopy from Charlie Brown." Bruce shrugged.

"Can't argue with that logic." Then he drained the rest of his tea. He went to his lab, feeling lighter than air. He worked for an hour or so before hearing Tony stumble in, clearly only on his second cup of coffee. He banged around for a while but eventually woke up. They continued working for a while until Bruce was almost done with his project. But the colony he was working on had mutated unexpectedly in the last stages. He called Tony over.

"Hey, what do you make of this? I've never seen it mutate like this before." Tony came over. But instead of standing in his customary position, to the side, he grabbed the back of Bruce's chair and leaned over his shoulder. Bruce almost stopped breathing. People being this close to him was rare, it normally happened when he had just de-hulked and one of his teammates would come over to swaddle him in a blanket. He would always savor the time he got wrapped in someone else's arms as they led him to the Quinjet. But today, three separate times even, he had been touched. Purposely, in a friendly way.

"Ah, here." Tony enlarged the screen with a flick and pointed. "Right here, you missed the sign." Bruce almost face palmed.

"I hate it when I miss something stupid like that.." He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"Hmmm… Time to take a break I think. Come get lunch with me?" Bruce froze again.

"Yeah… Yeah that'd be great." He smiled at Tony who grinned and started gathering his things. Bruce quickly went back to the step he had messed up and changed the equation. He set the experiment to run itself until it reached the point where he had left off, adding the equations he already had plugged in as it went. He stepped out with Tony, turning off the lights as he went.

"I was thinking, there's a new restaurant where we demolished that street. You remember that? The giant insects? That one. I think I remember where it is… I wonder if they serve breadsticks?" Bruce just smiled.

Once they got back, Bruce went straight to the lab. He was able to get to the last stage of his experiment before 5:30 and told JARVIS to alert him when it was almost done as he input the last equation. He found food already made in the kitchen and prepared a plate for himself. He was joined not long after by Pepper, Jane, and to his surprise, Darcy. They had apparently gone shopping for the day and now gathered, giggling, at the dinning room table. Bruce finished the rest of his meal and went to the sink to wash his dish. When he turned back around however, he froze. Pepper, Jane, and Darcy stood in a semi-circle around him. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped as they all smiled at once.

"Ah… Hi?" There was an explosion of movement as he was assaulted. Jane and Darcy securely grabbed his arms and dragged him toward the table. Pepper led the way and went to pull out a chair for him. He struggled against them, trying to get them to stop.

"Oh, calm down, Brucie! We only need to test out some of the things we bought!" Jane shouted cheerfully as she hauled him toward the table, Pepper pitching in while Darcy switched places to push from behind.

"It's all in the name of science!" Darcy helpfully chirped. Bruce regretted his decision to wear socks as he slid across the hardwood floor. He had almost given up hope as they neared the table when,

"Dr. Banner, your experiment has reached Phase 3." Bruce jumped.

"What already?! I'm sorry, I have to go! Not that this hasn't been… fun or anything…" Bruce grimaced at the blatant lie. "Maybe if you find Thor, he would be happy to test your products!" Then he ducked out of the room. He had seen Jane mouthing 'Phase 3?' to herself as he finally broke free. He didn't blame her, he had no idea what Phase 3 was either. As he got a good distance away from the kitchen, he slowed.

"JARVIS?"

"Yes, doctor?"

"What's Phase 3?" There was a pause.

"That is yet to be determined, sir." Bruce smiled and continued on his way.

He had about 20 minutes to wait now and he started thinking about his day. He had never felt so warm, he thought, except maybe when his mom was still alive. He knew what it was too. He felt loved. But he couldn't help but feel disappointed. Not because of the day's activities, never because of that, but because the one person he had wanted to see, to be touched by… hadn't. In fact, he hadn't seen him since the night they spent together. His train of thought was broken by the lab door opening for Darcy.

"Hey, Bruce." She smiled at him. He watched as she walked closer. She was walking weird, maybe she was hurt?

"Hey, Darcy. Are you okay?" She looked startled for a second before a forced-looking smile appeared. Then she seemed to regain confidence and it became more natural.

"Oh, I'm perfect… How are you?" And here she fluttered her eyelashes. Suddenly it hit him, what she was doing. She was flirting with him, trying to be seductive. Uhh… Did she know?

"I'm fine, just waiting for this to finish" She smiled wider and flipped her hair. She was, all of a sudden, very close, almost touching him. Then she put her hands on his knees.

"Can I help you wait?" He jerked his chair back and it rolled until he was a good foot away from her. He wouldn't let this continue any farther.

"Not that I'm not… flattered, but I don't think you could help me." Her eyes widened and he watched understanding wash over her. Then she laughed.

"You're gay?" Bruce nodded. Darcy looked at him carefully for a moment. "Who is it?" Bruce fidgeted under her gaze.

"Who's what?" She rolled her eyes

"Who's your crush? Come on, don't play stupid, it doesn't look good on you. Is it someone I know?" Bruce didn't answer. "So, that's a yes… Is it Tony? Clint? Thor? Steve?" Bruce cut her off.

"Darcy stop it, you're-"

"So it's Steve? That's cute!" Bruce started to panic.

"No, Darcy, that's ridicul-" She gave him a look and he gave up. He sighed and nodded.

"Does he know?"

"No, not unless he figured it out or someone else found out and told him…" Bruce moaned and rubbed his eyes. Why did Darcy have to make him think about this? A beeping interrupted Darcy, who had just opened her mouth to say something. He turned to observe his colony and let relief radiate through him as Darcy moved to leave and some control came back to him. Darcy wandered toward the door.

"You know, everyone would accept it, if you two were to be together… If he makes you happy, go for it." Then she was gone. Bruce continued along with his experiment. When he finally allowed himself to acknowledge whatever just happened, he snorted. Why was she trying to seduce him? Did she even know how old he was?

Once he was finished with his experiment he decided to take the night off. He started regretting it the moment he turned the corner and saw someone leaning against the wall next to his door. He paused and wondered if he would be able to duck back and go somewhere else, but it was too late. They had already looked up.

"What's up, sleepyhead?" Steve asked, smiling. Bruce just barely managed to not groan or roll his eyes.

"I've just had the weirdest day of my life. Stop being so happy." Steve started to look worried and followed Bruce in as he went to his kitchenette.

"Was it a bad day?" Bruce paused, considering.

"No," He decided. "It was a great day, fantastic really. An amazing day. Just confusing and really, really, weird." Steve smiled.

"Tell me about it?" So Bruce explained everything that happened that day. Except the part about Darcy and the following confession. Steve was a great listener, laughing when he heard about Clint and Natasha's argument and the girls' attack. Bruce wavered then described the warm feeling that he had felt all day because of it. Steve didn't hesitate to engulf him in a hug. Bruce savored the touch he had been wanting and didn't complain that, when Steve pulled away, he left an arm around his shoulders.

They were sitting on the couch at this point, having moved there during the discussion, and Bruce wouldn't deny that he nestled closer. A while later Steve suggested a movie then left to change. Bruce changed and got some snacks ready while he was gone. They sat down and put in a random movie. Steve glanced at Bruce before yawning and stretching. His hand seettled on Bruce's shoulder and Bruce hid a grin at the obvious move. He tucked his feet under him and leaned into Steve's touch. Steve glanced at him again.

"Hey, is that my shirt?"