Hello everyone, another week another entry! Enjoy.
Note: Thank you very much And Iam for helping me catch that little, yet, very important plot question. I owe you one :)
Three Days Ago
"Brucieee~"
"…"
"Bruciee~"
"… Clint?" Bruce finally replied looking up from his work at the somewhat intoxicated, if not flat out drunk, archer.
"Hey, how 'bout, you and me, breakfast *hiccup* now?" Clint asked leaning against Tony's desk, on his side of the room, and ungraciously tipping a pile of books over.
"Clint, it's 11 o'clock." Bruce reminded gently and resumed his original position.
"Yeah, so brunch then? Everyone loves brunch, right?" Clint asked hopefully. He crept his way closer to Bruce, leaning over his shoulder to stare at the blurry words (or at least blurry from his perspective).
"Clint, I am not going out with you." Bruce said, with a finite tone in his voice.
"Who said anything about going out? It's just brunch man." Clint said, ignoring the sudden pang in his heart.
"Brunch, lunch, dinner, whatever. I'm not going, so you can stop now. Besides, I have a lot of work to do." And with that, Clint was dismissed.
Present
"Tony, you've been staring at the screen for three hours now, can you please tell me what you're thinking?" Steve begged, twirling a pencil in his hands at a ludicrous speed. The only reason they were downstairs so early in the morning was because Tony had insisted he had found a perfect solution, and then he said he lost it. Lo and behold, three hours later proved rotten.*
"Shh… I'm thinking." Tony whispered, his eyes never leaving the blank screen.
"Daydreaming more like." Steve murmured. He was just angry he didn't get his full eight hours of beauty sleep.
A couple of seconds later Tony's frozen appearance melted and he reanimated.
"I got it." He said, almost inaudibly.
"Do you now?" Steve asked sarcastically, a couple of weeks attached to Tony would do that to you.
"Yes, now grab that pad and start drawing." Tony ordered, he decided to ignore the sarcasm… for now.
"Umm… sorry?" Steve asked confused, though he did as he was told.
"I have to create a device, the idea is in my head but it's too rotund, you're better with globular shapes than I am so here- he placed their interlaced fingers on display- draw our hands on the pad." Tony explained. Steve sighed and began the sketch.
"You know, I don't know how this is going to help anything." Steve said offhandedly as he erased a line he couldn't get quite right.
"You don't have to be perfect, Leonardo; though I will admit, you're an excellent artist. Now draw our hands encased in something gooey." Tony said, already ten steps ahead.
"What?" Steve asked, adorably confused.
"Imagine we just shoved our hands into a pile of Jell-O." Tony elaborated exasperatedly.
"Why would we do that?" Steve asked scratching his head, his entire face twisted in confusion.
"Because we had a momentary lapse of judgment, now draw it, please." Tony asked, already starting to doubt the idea's effectiveness.
"What color is the Jell-O?" Steve asked his poker face in place, though Tony could still see the grin in his eyes. Okay, so now he was just fucking with him.
"Green, with sprinkles on the top, the flavor is lime, and Natasha made it, happy now?" Tony asked evenly.
"Why Natasha?" Steve asked.
"Steve, do you want to get out of this or not?" Tony snapped, finally reaching his boiling point.
"Sorry, yeah, I'm done." Steve sobered up and began imagining their hands immersed in Jell-O. A gelatin structure he discovered a couple of months ago (that you eat), it was actually water at first and then it hardened into a solid in the fridge. That simple fact had blown his mind, along with the onion chopper thing.
"There." Steve said placing the pencil down, wondering how their hands in goo would help anything and if Tony had finally lost all the loose screws in his head.
"Now harden it, imagine it was plastic, rather than gelatin, and erase the excess marks, make sure we have enough space around though, about an inch or so." Tony ordered again, noticing how quickly the plan was falling into place. If this actually worked, they could be out of it in a month, which is better than say, never, because they were never going to do such a thing…
He shouldn't even think of the slightest possibility that they might.
"Tony, I still don't see how having our hands in some hard, gelatinous plastic* will help our situation, soothing as it may be." Steve said a tone of regret in his voice. He had to have faith in Tony, but he really didn't know where the crazed engineer was going with this.
"Trust me in this will you? Here is a microscope, you see this midsection? That's where you place the glass slides, and these revolver thingies? They are magnifiers. I want you to draw this microscope around this section- he pointed at the hands on the page- do a couple of sketches if you have to." Tony said. He waited patiently as Steve found his way around the microscope.
The sun was creeping up slowly when the fourth sketch was finished, not a bolt out of place.
"Here, I think this should do." Steve said, handing Tony the finished product.
"Perfect, Jarvis scan and organize please." Tony said as they got to work.
"Right away sir."
"Bruce!" Tony exclaimed loudly as he entered the common lab. Steve in tow (not that he had a choice), an angry expression on his face, he was slowly steaming as Tony started to ramble.
"Brucie, baby, I need your help, this outstanding individual- you could actually see the sarcasm dripping off Tony's mouth- doesn't know the difference between a Phillips and a Flathead!" Tony exclaimed, throwing his movable hand into the air, the papers still gripped tightly in his hands.
"Well so-rry, if I was in the middle of a war when they were teaching Tools 101." Steve replied condescendingly.
"Wait a minute, I'm confused, what?" Bruce asked adorably, his brown eyes shining with misunderstanding.
"Here, this should explain everything." Tony said handing Bruce the papers, he'd calmed down, at least marginally.
"Oh I see, what are you naming it?" Bruce asked, looking at Tony expectantly.
"Carpalfier Mark I. There'll only be one mark of course." Tony replied with an air of superiority.
Bruce snorted and shook his head.
"Let's get started then." He replied, shutting down his laptop and clearing a desk so they could work on the scope.
"Just one more screw and it'll be done." Tony said then snickered, that's what she said.
"Glad I could be of some use." Bruce said, stepping away to admire their handiwork.
"Are you kidding Brucie? You did most of the work; besides, microscopes are your forte." Tony said wiping his hands on his lab coat.
"It was your ide-
He was cut off by the sudden entrance of a very determined archer.
You would think Clint would walk directly to Bruce and throw in his two cents, but no… he strode right past him, took Tony by the collar, and kissed him.
To say the three other males were shocked would be an understatement.
Tony gasped and Clint took that opportunity to shove his tongue deep within Tony's throat, his dexterous muscle licked the roof of Tony's mouth and deepened the kiss by applying more force.
"How 'bout you and me go make the walls vibrate?" Clint asked promiscuously, suggestively pulling at Tony's lab coat.
The doors to the lab closed brusquely, indicating the departure of a certain individual. At that, Clint dropped the act and wiped his hand down his face.
"As much as I enjoy kissing, truly, I find the activity quite wonderful really… what the fuck where you thinking?!" Tony shouted at Clint, his entire physique angled just so he would look more menacing. Clint had pulled a fast one, on all of them.
"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking, and Natasha wouldn't do it, and I just wanted to make him jealous and-
"Let me stop you right there, 'cause you're rambling, and the only person allowed ramble in my presence is me. Organize your thoughts and address them clearly." Tony instructed the disgruntled archer.
"I was trying to make Bruce jealous okay, he… I tried a couple of days ago to ask him out, and he shot me down, a-and I wanted to see if it was because he had no feelings for me, or something else." Clint said, feeling worse for wear.
While Tony contemplated this, Steve stood there his heart just barely calming down. If there had been something going on between Clint and Tony, he would have known. He's been attached to the man for almost a month now! To say he was jealous would not cover it, a couple more seconds and he would have ripped his fellow teammate in half, he seriously wished he had the freedom Bruce had right now to release some energy, anger, and jealousy.
"You said you asked Natasha?" Tony asked cautiously.
"Oh, yeah, asked if she could pretend to be my girlfriend, she called me stupid then slammed the door in my face. After a couple of minutes she reopened it and explained to me the feelings I was too blind to see, she said to try and 'talk it out,' not make him jealous. Then she slammed the door in my face again." Clint explained not really able to look at Tony.
"Well she's right." Tony… just keep rubbing salt on the wound would ya'?
"I know she's right, dammit! I just… I just don't know." Clint snapped, he sat on a nearby chair and rested his head in his arms.
"Didn't you tell me a couple of weeks ago that you felt absolutely nothing for Bruce?" Tony asked suspiciously.
"I lied, same as you are lying to-
"So why me? Why not Captain, or even Thor, hell I think maybe Loki would do." Tony interrupted quickly; he really did not want to go there.
"Seriously Tony, Loki, that man has more wrong with him than any of us combined, Thor wouldn't understand, and Captain… well he's too innocent, he also has no ties to Bruce like you do, that, and I wouldn't want to be the one to steal his first kiss." Clint explained, adding the last part for his benefit.
"What do you mean 'first kiss,' you've at least gone first base right?" Tony asked, shifting his attention to the reddening Captain.
"No?" Tony asked again in disbelief, virtually shocked. Why hadn't someone taken the opportunity to treat those lips to a wonderful two-lipped massage?
"Can we please not discuss this right no-
A garish roar erupted through the entire building efficiently cutting the Captain off.
"The Avengers alarm didn't ring did it –Tony shook his head- then why is the Hulk loose?" Clint asked shaking his blonde head.
"Sir, the Hulk is in the chamber, should I begin the tests?" Jarvis's ever calm voice asked over the intercom.
"Tests?" Clint asked suspiciously, he narrowed his eyes at Tony who just rolled his.
"Relax Katniss, I'm testing the glass not the Hulk, don't think of me as another Fury for doing so, Bruce and I created a substance that should be able to withstand the Hulks fists, I told him if he ever felt like letting off some steam, that he should go there. I told him also that the chamber was one way only. I do hope you memorized that code I gave you a week into the Stark Tower living experience?" Tony asked doubtfully. Clint nodded curtly not caring for the minor details.
"Clint, you should go to him." Tony suggested.
"Are you kidding? I'm the last person he wants to see right now." Clint replied. He was however flattered (in a paradoxical sort of way) that Bruce got jealous enough to transform, granted that wasn't a good thing, but still, progress!
"Just do it, the sooner you get this worked out the better for all of us. I do not want Shield to get involved." Tony said, spitting Shield out as if it left a bad taste in his mouth… which it did.
"Alright Tony, if you say so." Clint said leaving a bit hesitantly, before he opened the door he turned around and looked at the two men still standing, watching him.
"Thanks." Clint said softly.
"Don't mention it; by the way, you're an excellent kisser." Tony complimented.
"I know, we should hook up sometime." Clint replied with a wolfish grin, though he didn't mean anything by it.
"No thanks, not again." Tony replied holding his hand up.
And with that, the hopeful archer left the lab and ran to the Hulk.
RAWR!
"H-hey big guy, c-could I talk to Bruce?" Clint asked the being in the chamber.
Another roar made his answer clear.
"I know I fucked up Hulk, but, I'm trying to fix things, please let me in buddy." Clint pleaded with the beast.
"Banner… he mad with Cupid and Tin-Man, he… not, not want to speak right now." Hulk growled out, his vocabulary had improved since his stay at the Stark tower, partly because of Tony's educational videos and mostly because of Clint's relationship with him after battles, it was still a wonder that Hulk could even talk. He was still more bronze than brains though.
"Cupid… how cute." Clint mostly whispered to himself, when he first found out about Hulk's nickname for him he found it offensive, now he just thought it endearing.
"Why's he angry with Tony?" Clint asked as that part of the sentence registered. Another fact he found fascinating was Hulk's ability to connect with what Banner was feeling, he knew that if Bruce stopped being such a self-righteous asshole and just accepted Hulk, they would have a deeper, more connected relationship.
"Tin-Man… was friend- he still struggled with words though, and that sometimes got him frustrated- and he… Little Ma- Banner confused, but mostly mad, Hul- I would know." Hulk replied, reminding himself to use proper nouns and to stop addressing himself in third person.
"Tony's still his friend, that hasn't changed, Hulk, I was being stupid. Please, I really need to talk to him." Clint pleaded with the Green Giant.
"Hmph." Was Hulk's reply. He turned his back to Clint and sat down, the floors shaking a little.
"Hey Hulk, don't ignore me, Hulk, Hulk!" Clint tried and tried to get the Hulk's attention but he was being ignored. He would not be ignored.
"Hulk!" Clint shouted as he tackled the giant from behind, probably not his smartest move.
Rawr!
Clint was flung into a nearby wall but he barely felt it, he's been through worse.
"Yeah I know, I'm sorry, but I really need to talk to him and you were ignoring me." Clint said in his defense, as the Hulk circled him threateningly.
"Cupid really stupid." Hulk said aggressively.
"I know, that's why I need to talk to Bruce, so he can make me un-stupid." Clint said, flashing a smile. Hulk rolled his eyes and shook his head, much like his counterpart would do.
"He not want… but if Cupid wants, Cupid gets, he can't fight you." Hulk sighed out as he closed his eyes and calmed down. He left a disoriented Bruce in his wake.
"Bruce!" Clint shouted alarmed, as he noticed just how unbalanced Bruce was.
"Clint?" Bruce asked still not fully himself, he looked around a bit and noticed where he was.
"Clint!" And now he was awake.
"Bruce." Clint replied, a goofy smile on his face.
"What are you doing in here? Did that monster hurt you?" Bruce asked already standing up to check on Clint, it seemed as though he didn't remember just why they were in there.
"First, he's not a monster, second, he would never hurt me, and third, it's because of you that I'm in here." Clint said, standing up.
"My fault? Did the Avengers alarm go off or something? The last thing I remember is Tony and me were building a microsco- Tony." And there it was.
"Hey Bruce, calm down. I just finished asking the Hulk to let you come back I don't want him telling me 'I told you so.'" Clint said calmly.
"Wait, tell you? Are you teaching him English? How many times have I told you guys to stay away from him, that he's dangerous, that he should be killed the moment he's vulnerabl-
"Listen to the way you're speaking! You're the monster here, Hulk cares about you, about all of us, he fights with himself every day to try and be as good as he can be and you're just pushing him away, it's because of you he's so angry and bitter." Clint shouted, they've had this argument before, but now Bruce couldn't run away.
"You talk about him as if he were human." Bruce murmured, crossing his arms over his naked chest, the ripped shirt lay around the room… somewhere.
"Because he is, and if you're worried about my safety, don't, I'm an assassin, hell, I ran into the lion's cage in order to get away from a whooping once when I was eleven. You don't need to worry about me." Clint said, reddening a little in the face, he'd forgotten about that.
"Well aren't you brave." Bruce spat out, trying in vain to keep his heart under control.
"Bruce-
"Don't, I know what you're going to say, but no I did not get angry about you… about you and Tony, in fact, congrats. I'm really happy for the both of you." Bruce congratulated, his voice close to dead.
"Bruce you idiot, you big, stupid, adorable, idiot. I didn't do it because I'm in a relationship with Tony, I didn't even do it to make Steve jealous, I did it to make you jealous, granted that was a pretty girly thing of me to do, but… I didn't know what else to do! You keep ignoring every advance I make, you say we're just friends yet the way you make me feel… it's different damn it! And I don't know how to express that." Clint said, trying his hardest to keep the rest of his confession at bay, if he kept going then everything else would spill out.
"Tony, should we be watching this?" Steve asked as they huddled close over the screen in the dark room.
"No." Tony said, his eyes glued to the screen.
"Then why are we-
"Shh… he's gonna confess." Tony whispered dramatically. Dum-E whizzed over with a bag of pop-corn.
"Thanks Dum-E,I knew I kept you for a reason." Tony said, as he munched on the popcorn. Steve sighed looking over at Tony's face noticing how the screen illuminated it just right, his hand started to itch and he was ever thankful that his drawing hand was free. He noticed how Tony reached out for the pop-corn with his tongue rather than shove it in his mouth. Each time he did so left a little wet mark on his lips, making them more kissable. That being said, he was still seething with jealousy, though Clint had just finished explaining that that was not the case for his abrupt kiss. Steve turned his head away; he knew that if he let his thoughts wonder any further it would be the death of his will power.
"Bruce… please, I want to try and work this out. Don't say no because you think you'll hurt me, say no because you don't care about me, say no because you love someone else, say no for any other reason, but please, if there is nothing stopping you… say yes?" Clint asked, completely oblivious to the two-member audience.
"Clint, I can't…" Bruce trailed off, turning around and hanging his head.
"Bruce, dammit not you too, I will not be ignored, Bruce!" The archer turned the doctor around and crushed their lips together, and then he slowed down. Putting so much sweetness into it, a diabetic would die.
"There it is, there it is!" Tony said clapping their hands together and… sniffling?
"Tony are you… crying?" Steve asked, surprised and kinda touched; he didn't expect such kindness from him.
"No… my eyes are sweating." Tony said. He was ready to send the two males on the screen to a honeymoon, on a private island (that he owned, of course), and give them each a million dollars.
"Mhmm." Steve replied, smiling softly.
"But what about the scene in the lab all those weeks ago, you told Tony you felt nothing, that we were just friends." Bruce said, trying to figure everything out.
"I lied, blame it on Natasha, she's a pretty good liar. Besides, it's not like Tony can say anything, the way he stormed out of the lab when I-
"And that's enough eavesdropping for one day." Tony said, a bit hysterically. Steve did not need to see that.
"I kinda wanted to hear what he was going to say." Steve said, reaching over to touch the button Tony had pressed.
"No, I don't think so." Tony said, swiping his hand over the screen effectively cutting off Steve's attempts.
"And why not?" Steve asked as he tried to reach the screen over Tony's head and touch the little icon he had seen disappear into another folder.
"Because I said so." Tony replied as he hopped onto the desk and tried to reach the screen to disable it. The sudden movement had unbalanced Steve and he toppled over Tony crashing into his body on the way down.
They laid there motionless for a few beats, the only light radiating from Tony's chest.
He was sure it was unconscious, but when Steve saw Tony lick his lips he almost lost it… almost. Tony's arc reactor shone a little brighter as he noticed the way Steve was looking at him, any longer and he'd pounce.
"Get off me would you; you're like a ton of bricks." Tony said, more bitter than he meant to sound, the last thing he wanted Steve to do was get up, his unnaturally cool body effectively cooled his overheated one. That energy source in the center of his chest didn't go unnoticed, it warmed up his body a degree or two and it always left him feeling hot. Steve was like a balm, he guessed that spending seventy years below zero would do that to someone. Likewise, Tony's hot body felt like heaven, and all Steve wanted to do was snuggle deeper into the warmth. He felt it when they were in bed together but could never actually embrace it, like he was doing now.
"Sorry." Steve whispered rolling over and looking up at the ceiling, he tried to calm his breathing, overreacting to an accident would not help either of them.
"Whatever, let's just get out of here. We'll start testing later."
"So… is that a yes?" Clint asked hopefully, after they talked things out, to say he was happy would be an understatement.
"As long as you understand that if this- Bruce pointed to the both of them- doesn't work out, that you try not to push it. We might have to start slow at first." Bruce said taking his hands from around Clint's hips; they just felt so… natural to him, like they were made for his hands alone.
He took a step back.
"Slow… I can do that, I'll wait as long as you want to, no need to rush, I won't even tell the team, though unfortunately, as soon as we leave this room Natasha will know… she's creepy like that." Clint rambled out. He could already feel the loss of heat from their previous position and it left him feeling dissatisfied, but he couldn't be selfish. He was happy enough that Bruce was even considering a "them," much less starting something.
"Okay then, I guess we should ask someone to let us out seeing as a certain someone decided to step inside the lion's cage." Bruce teased. Clint reddened marginally but rolled his eyes. He could do this, this teasing thing. It felt nice… progress!
"Already got you covered buddy, I hope he explained to you that I was not part of that kiss whatsoever, and that out of the three of us, I feel the most violated?" Tony asked as he typed in the seventeen digit passcode, lightning fast.
"Sorry again Tony, I do owe you one." Clint apologized, rubbing the back of his neck as he stepped out.
"You do now; does that mean I should be calling the wedding planners?" Tony asked in mock surprise.
"You were spying weren't you?" Bruce and Clint asked together.
"Already speaking in unison, impressive, and what is this spying you speak of?" Tony asked, his grin giving him away.
"In my defense, I tried to stop him." Steve said. Bruce looked at him and smiled.
"I didn't expect any less from him." Bruce said holding his hand out for Clint, who just about melted.
"Why would you want to be subjected to this?" Tony asked as he raised his right hand. "You have a choice! Are you mocking us?" He asked after a thought.
"What is this mocking you speak of?" Clint asked, laughing.
It was one of those rare afternoons where all of the Avengers were congregated in the same area, a movie, no one was really watching, on the flat screen, and the different scents of food floating around the room followed by content chewing, could be heard.
"Did I ever… say… how thankful… I am for you… being a billionaire… Stark?" Clint asked between bites.
"No, I also never heard you mention how thankful you are for my beautiful face to grace your eyes every day." Tony added with an air of arrogance.
"Fuck you man." Clint said as he choked on his soda with laughter.
"No thanks, that slot's already taken." Tony said, looking at a random dot on the wall when all the questioning gazes fell on him.
"I'm just joking." He whispered conspiratorially. The others shook their heads.
"Hey Tony, I've been meaning to ask you, since this has been bothering me for a while… how do you two put your shirts on?" Clint asked as he downed the rest of his soda.
The others looked at Steve and Tony with renewed interest, they really never thought about that (or if they had, they didn't care).
"Well, you know how I'm a multi-billionaire, more like a gazillionaire really but who's counting?" Tony gloated, always one to remind others how rich he was, not to be cruel or anything, but he enjoyed the exasperated look on their faces.
"Get on with it?" Natasha asked.
"Well as one, I don't shop in regular people clothing stores, actually, I don't shop in stores, I find that other people touching the cloth makes it icky, so I hired multiple tailors and created about twenty Tony Stark inspired chain stores. One of my favorite tailor's name is Michelle Lamar, I offered her a bonus and was quite impressed she replied with such a quantity in such short notice, I added a little extra to her bonus just for that." Tony finished, picking up his bottle of water.
"Still doesn't explain how you get your clothes on." Clint reminded.
"Cap show them." Tony said, nudging Steve gently in the side; their earlier mishap not lost to him.
"Why me?" Steve asked, taking a bite of his apple… ugh, fruit.
"Because you have the best body out of all of us." Tony explained slowly as if it were a known fact.
"Pardon?" Thor said, speaking up for the first time, he looked at Tony incredulously.
"No offence Point Break, but out of all of us, who is a. attached to a person?" Tony challenged.
"Fair enough, I will give you that one Young Stark." Thor replied, still a little hurt.
"I still don't see why I have to do this…" Steve trailed off as he removed his shirt. The little zipper at the side was concealed so it would look like the normal hem on a shirt. It facilitated the removal of the shirt, also the fact that they had to do this one-handed made the design quite ingenious.
"Impressive." Clint complimented.
"Thanks." Tony said dismissively.
"Seems a bit complicated, don't you think?" Loki asked, all eyes turned to him silently asking him if he was serious.
"Well if you'd like to offer a solution that would separate our hands, feel free to share." Tony said sarcastically.
"I cannot, and again I apologize, but when my magic is once again my own, I could place a spell that would allow your clothing to phase through your arms, we could call it, as you Midgardians say, even?" Loki offered, he was trying to make amends.
"No, no more spells-
"Come on Steve, you were complaining the entire week about the clothes, besides what else could he do to us, turn us into women?" Tony asked.
"Now there's an idea." Loki said mischievously.
"Don't even, but if you mean what you say, I guess it wouldn't hurt you helping us." Tony said, not really happy with the arrangement but what other choice did he have.
"It is settled then. Four days from today I shall have the spell prepared, but for now I must depart, I am growing increasingly tired by the second; the last few days are the most draining to say the least. I thank you for the pleasant food; they don't have such flavorful selections in Asgard, right brother?" Loki asked with a small smile.
"Correct." Thor replied, nodding his head and accompanying him to their shared quarters.
"You know… for an asshole he has really nice manners." Clint said out loud.
"Indeed he does." Steve agreed.
As the sun started to reach its peak the Avengers alarm went off and the others looked back at Tony and Steve regrettably.
"We miss you guys in battle so much, Tony… it's always good to have an extra set of eyes in the sky and Steve, your commands always produce the best outcome. Please try to figure this out soon, we're struggling without you." Clint said solemnly.
"We know, and we're trying, just give us a little more time." Steve pleaded with Clint; the archer nodded and left the building.
After the Tower fell silent, Tony sighed.
"Come on Steve, another day another dollar; let's find out what's truly keeping us together."
And with that they left the common room not noticing the little pattern their impressions had made on the sofa.
It was a heart.
That's it for that! Hope the kisses weren't too random, you almost got a third one, but I thought better against it. So finally two of them got their shit straight, now we have six others to follow in Bruce's and Clint's example. Until next time!
Note: I do understand that in Captain America, Steve actually kissed Peggy, but I'd like to believe that that never got a chance to happen. Ignorance is bliss.
*An analogy for those who don't understand, Steve is saying that because nothing came out of their visit to the lab that it wasn't fruitful. Rather than saying it was in vain, or that it proved unfruitful, he decides to exaggerate and call it rotten.
2nd *: Easter Egg, if you can figure out what this is (as in onomatopoeia or such) you're a smart cookie.
[EDIT: 03/03/2015]
