This'll be kinda short, but I just needed filler between chapters. Hopefully this is still a good chapter, though.
The meeting concluded not long after that. Tony kept making jabs at Fury until the man seemed to explode and walk out. Steve and Natasha noticed his twitchy hand hanging near his holster; Tony could get a little carried away sometimes.
Bruce's evening passed as he looked over a few documents on his Stark Ind. Phone- Tony made him take it. He had a few projects he'd been working on stored there along with some old ones and a few photos even; one in particular now caught his attention.
The picture was of his college graduation, and his younger self was being weighed down by the weight of his friends' arms. Left to right, he named them: Reed, Susan, Victor, Leonard*, Mary, himself, Richard, and Curt. A graduating class of pure genius. And somehow, somewhere along the line, he knew every one of them had sacrificed, and they were all gone. Actually, no, Bruce thought, it's not so much that they're gone, but that I am. I'm supposed to be dead.
Bruce stared a moment longer at the photo, before sighing quietly and looking towards the little boy on the cot, sleeping soundly. Bruce smiled slightly. Perhaps, for once, he wouldn't have to be alone.
This one, something deep inside Bruce spoke, this one is ours.
With that thought, Bruce drifted off into a dreamless sleep, completely peaceful.
The next morning…
Clint loved kids. It was something about him that was so surprising and seemingly out-of-character, anyone would've thought you were crazy to suggest it, but when Clint was around kids, it was suddenly impossible to see him /not/ liking kids. Clint's wife- the fact of which he would kill me (the author) for telling you all about- was in fact pregnant right now with their first child. Clint grinned to himself just thinking about it; they were having a boy. A little boy, his first child. They'd been arguing over names- Clint liked names like Donnie, Walker and Bowser, but those had all quickly been shot down and Laura made it clear that no baby of theirs would be named after a cartoon he watched as a kid.**
It was for these reasons that Clint found himself crawling through the vents towards Bruce's quarters to see if the kid wanted to hang out with him. He also might've been avoiding a certain eye-patched director who was currently still up-in-arms over the whole "bringing home a super-powered kid" thing. Clint rolled his eyes and snorted. Whatever.
Making his way through the vent shafts, he slid down a shoot silently, and turned one more corner. Surprisingly, the grate into Bruce's quarters was already removed and a head was poking through, looking expectantly at the archer as he made his way towards him.
Clint moved hesitantly forward; thankfully, it was the kid.
"Hey," he whispered quietly. The vents were echoey, and the last thing he wanted was to wake Bruce, who he knew would still be sleeping as the man had begun a bad habit of sleeping through the morning hours, sometimes 'til almost noon when he was especially exhausted. Trying to hold the Hulk back could be taxing at times, he imagined.
The little boy stared at him, eyes narrowed slightly.
"You remember me? We met back in Latveria. I'm Clint," the older man reached his hand out to Peter who stared at it, his face more confused than suspicious now.
Clint stared at his hand too, before saying, "Oh, you shake it. Here, lemme show-"
The boy flinched back as he reached for his hand.
Clint frowned, "Hey, bud, no worries. I'm not tryin' anything, I promise. I've got my own boy at home- well, almost. He's not 'here' yet. My wife's pregnant and…" Clint stopped himself, no need to get into it.
The boy seemed a little less suspicious now, reaching his hand farther into the vent towards Clint's. Clint took it lightly, and shook it in a handshake. The gesture soon turned into a jiggling of the little boy's arm, making the child giggle at his wiggling arm.
They both stopped for a moment as Bruce's quiet breathing in the background stuttered for a moment. Waiting a moment longer, they both looked back at each other, grinning mischievously.
Clint peeked one more time at Bruce before turning to Peter with a smirk, "Hey, do you wanna come hang out with me? It looks pretty boring in there, waiting for your- erh, waiting for Bruce to wake up. And I could show you my fort!" Clint didn't call it his fort to appeal to the child, he actually called it his fort, and very few people had seen it, except for maybe Natasha. Actually, just Natasha.
Peter frowned a moment more, studying this man's face. He had learned early on that offers of fun or anything remotely pleasant should always be met with suspicion if it came from a stranger- or anyone, really. However, Peter knew that Bruce seemed to trust this man, and had called him a friend, and Peter trusted Bruce (although, if you asked him why, he couldn't give a very clear answer on that), so in turn, Peter trusted this man.
Looking back one more time at Bruce, Peter nodded and crawled into the vent to follow Clint to his fort. He'd be back quickly, before Bruce wakes up, but he just wanted a quick peek.
Clint and his laughter could be heard echoing all through the ventilation shafts as they climbed towards their destination.
Bruce slept soundly, twitching slightly at the out of place sound. He recognized that sound, didn't he? A child? He listened closely, his mind still lucid, his eyes still shut. A child's laugh.
That thought brought Bruce back from the sea of restful black that engulfed his mind.
His eyes opened.
NOTES: *Leonard Samson whose... part of Hulk cannon.
Ok, so on that list, I included Reed Richards, Susan Storm-Richards, Victor Von Doom, Leonard Samson, Mary Fitzpatrick-Parker, Richard Parker, and Curt Connors. I wanted a list of scientists that would reflect the level of Bruce's intelligence, as well as give him a few friends. The Parkers and Connors made sense, as I had planned Bruce having gone to college with the Parkers, and Connors went to the same college as Richard in cannon, so he had to be included. Samson made sense, as he was part of Hulk's cannon, and Richard I thought would be a good choice for Banner, but I knew he'd also gone to college with Susan and Victor Doom, so they had to be added.
I also like the idea that every scientist on this list was ultimately affected by their research, whether for better or for worse.
The show Clint watched as a kid was this animated tv series, COPS. It's actually kind of the best. Definitely check it out when you can. Futuristic cops fighting mob bosses. Badass.
I know a lot of this was definitely non-cannon, and that everything seemed kind of rushed, and that's because it was. I kinda used up my whole weekend reading and writing this story, so I got a lot of updates in. However, in the meantime, I avoided work and homework- summer quarter, yay! So, now that it's the week, I might not be able to update as often as these last few days. Bear with me here, and I'll try my best to keep updating daily. Hopefully. Without somehow sacrificing my education and finances in the meantime. Got it.
Ok, but seriously, I know this was a little rushed, but I wanted to give you something to hold you guys over. I'm kind of just drawing this out until we get to the fun stuff!
Look for updates! Throw me a bone wrapped in a review! It adds flavoring. Thanks for reading!
