Chapter 12: Game Changer pt1

Bruce spent all of Saturday and Sunday with Betty. He made her tea, gave her sweet kisses, read her books, and indulged in more stories about his time at Tony's party. Betty found them entertaining, but she was still skeptical about spending time with them should she be given the opportunity. She was pretty much back to normal by Sunday night but her dad, old Thunderbolt Ross, wanted her to stay in bed an extra day. Just to make sure she got it all out of her system, but she insisted on going back to school. Bruce chuckled. He had to admire her for that. He only got sick once in a blue moon, but when he did it sucked. Sunday night he went to bed feeling strangely excited. Tomorrow was Monday, and he hoped that at school he would get to hang out with at least one of his new friends. That is, if they wanted to see him of course. He still felt guilty about leaving during the whole breakfast fiasco, but they could understand, right? Although I do have Thor's number. I could've at least texted. Bruce smacked the back of his head against his pillow. Why didn't he think of that before? He shut off his light and went to sleep, feeling more stupid than he'd like to admit. He would just have to wait until tomorrow to see what happened.

Bruce woke up early the next morning, refreshed and ready to start another day. He always woke up an hour before he had to catch the bus, so he had plenty of time to kill after he brushed his teeth and washed his face. He got dressed in green t-shirt shirt, a white sweater underneath, and brown pants and watched television. While dining on a bowl of Cheerios, Bruce chuckled when he saw a commercial promoting the theatrical release of Three Kicks To The Head Part 4. He remembered Steve and Thor talking about having a movie night for Part 3 some night since it recently came out on video. He hadn't even seen the first movie, but they seemed adamant about it. Whether or not he hung out with them again, he made a mental note to check it out some time. Bruce finished his cereal, got his books ready, and watched some more TV. An interesting documentary on the science channel about split personalities and anger issues. When the time came, he gathered his things and left the house. His mother, a nurse who worked the late shift at the hospital, would just be coming home in half an hour. His father was still asleep and probably wouldn't be getting up until noon. Bruce felt sorry for the man. He was a construction worker, and jobs hadn't been coming so easy as of late. He walked outside and went around the corner to his bus stop. There was a small group of other students waiting there, chatting amongst themselves about Tony's birthday party. What costumes they wore. How cool the glow-in-the-dark cake was. Kaylee Foxx singing "Happy Birthday". How awesome it was when Tony and his friends were dancing together in the center of the dance floor. Bruce hung back, smiling softly to himself but not saying anything. He was there. He was in that group in the middle of the dance floor. With some of the coolest people he'd ever had the pleasure to meet. He was tempted to include himself in their conversation. To tell them that he was part of a fun after-party when the night was winding down and the rest of them left, but he didn't. Not out of shyness like he might've thought, but out of humbleness. Humility. Let Tony have all the fun with the bragging. Bruce knew what happened. He experienced it, and he had a lot of fun. He didn't need to boast about it to strangers. The bus came, and Bruce took his normal spot near the front by himself. Betty lived closer to the school, so he wouldn't be sitting with her on the bus. In fact, he wouldn't be seeing her until the end of the day most likely. She didn't share any classes with him. Not even the same lunch period. He leaned his head against the window as the bus moved along. He was used to being by himself a lot. Betty had a different school schedule. His folks were always out and about or dead tired. Bruce never thought much of it before, but today it felt different.

Fifteen minutes later the bus pulled into the parking lot of the school, and Bruce was one of the first kids off. He smiled to himself. It was strange but his inner (okay outer) geek felt much more at east at school. He was in his element here. Especially in the science lab, where Professor Selvig showered him with praise on every single project. Bruce walked across the pavement, and he saw Clint's purple Saturn pulling up to park. He winced at the loud rock music blasting through its windows. Chevelle's "Send The Pain Below". Bruce never was into that kind of music. So aggressive and...punchy. The car parked near the bus, and out walked Clint and Natasha. Natasha was looking hot as always, dressed in a tight black leather jacket with a red undershirt, red short shorts and black biker boots. Her thick fiery curls in a ponytail. Clint was in a black t-shirt, an open purple hooded jacket, and purple cargo shorts. The hood of his jacket was up, obscuring his eyes. Bruce gulped. The last time he saw Natasha, she hit Tony and left to find Clint who had apparently done the same. He was sure they had calmed down since Saturday morning but still,... Bruce smiled nervously as Clint and Natasha walked his way. Clint looked like he was mad at something, but Natasha was smiling softly when he came into their view.

"Hi." he greeted, embarrassed when he heard his voice crack a little.

Jesus, Banner. You just danced and hung out with these two a few days ago. They're mad at somebody else, not you. Get a grip, man.

"Yup." Clint replied gruffly, walking right past Bruce with his hands in his jacket pockets.

Bruce looked at Natasha, who seemed more happy to see him.

"Don't mind him. He uh, he had a rough night."

Natasha put a hand on his shoulder, and Bruce couldn't help noticing how she smelled like vanilla. He smiled, enjoying her scent.

"He actually likes you. We'll see ya 'round."

Natasha gave him a gentle pat and jogged to catch up with Clint. Bruce stood there for a moment, smiling to himself. He couldn't believe it. Clint and Natasha liked him. Bruce went to class with a skip in his step. Who says Mondays have to suck?

A few hours later, it was lunch time. The second the bell for the next period rang, Bruce knew he had to grab his books quickly. Bruce sat by himself during lunch, and tables filled up fast. He always had to hurry and claim a table for himself before the entire cafeteria filled up. He remembered one day when he didn't make it in time, and he was forced to share a table with the Maximoff twins. What a weird day that was. All they did was talk to each other in a language Bruce didn't understand, occasionally making mean glances at him. Luckily today was normal, and he found a nice table all for himself. Eating alone on a daily basis never bothered Bruce that much. Unless he was hanging out with Betty, it was pretty normal for him. School. Home. Random walks around the park. Always by himself. Even outcasts like the Maximoffs at least always had each other. He placed his bookbag on the table, a way to "claim his territory" while he went in line to get his tray. School lunches were never spectacular, but today they were serving chicken nuggets and fries. One of the few items that didn't taste like crap. Bruce filled his tray, listening to the other kids in line continue to talk about Tony's party. He went back to his table and ate quietly. Bruce did his usual thing, keeping his head down, tuning out all the loud background chatter until it was white noise in his mind. He learned to do this back in grade school. Bruce ate his food slowly while he read one of his books. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, one of his favorites. Not much time passed when at some point while he was reading, a shadow formed over his book. Bruce looked up and couldn't help but smile like an idiot. Steve in a short sleeved blue and white plaid shirt, khaki pants and red baseball cap. Sam in a gray t-shirt and camo pants. Thor in a navy blue sweater and black pants. All three of them with their own trays.

"Nice to see you again, Bruce." said Steve with a smile.

"Why are you here by yourself, man? I can't believe I never noticed before." said Sam.

Bruce nervously licked his lips.

"I uh, don't really ever have anybody else to sit with." he admitted.

Thor stomped his foot loudly on the ground and Bruce jumped in his seat.

"This is unacceptable!" the Asgardian proclaimed, and he took a seat next to Bruce right away.

Steve and Sam sat together opposite him, and Bruce felt his heart swell.

"I um, I thought you guys would've been upset with me." he said.

Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Why? If anything we thought you would be upset with us."

"Steve is right, friend Bruce. I felt sorry for inviting you to a gathering that ended on a sour note." said Thor.

Sam scratched behind his head.

"Yeahhhh, they filled me in on what went down when I got back in town last night. I'm sorry I missed it. We saw you eating by yourself and came to see how you were doing."

Bruce cleared his throat, pushing his glasses up his nose. Nervously tapping his fingers on the table he said,

"I'm sorry for leaving like that by the way. It's just you know, with everything that happened I didn't think it was my place to stay there and-"

Thor held up a hand, stopping Bruce.

"Tis all water under the bridge as they say." he said with a friendly grin.

Bruce let out a sigh of relief. Wow. Who would've thought?

"Soooooo um, anything interesting happen after Sharon and I left?"

Steve, Sam, and Thor looked at each other and chuckled loudly. Bruce raised an eyebrow. Apparently so.

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Natasha stood with her arms crossed as she leaned against the lockers. It was lunch time, but she wasn't headed to the cafeteria just yet. Every day she would wait outside Mr. Rand's English class. The second the bell rang and his class was over, Clint would come out and they would go to lunch together. Today he came out, looking strained and frustrated. He saw her but said nothing and walked in a different direction from the cafeteria. She saw Clint go to the men's room down the hall instead. She felt so bad. The boy was still recovering from his drunken stupor last night, and Tony was in that class with him.

On Saturday after they had sex on the couch, Clint started acting more withdrawn than usual. He shot his bow out back for a few hours then took a really long shower. Natasha tried talking to him, but he never said more than a few words. As it turned out Steve's house was within walking distance and Clint remembered they had left his car there. After all, Tony picked them up in his ridiculous party-bus and they spent the night at the bastard's house. They didn't know if Steve was home or not that afternoon, but they didn't care. They quickly retrieved his car with no problems. Then they went to the store some time later. She tried lifting his spirits by getting him Three Kicks To The Head Part Three. It just came out on video recently and she knew he hadn't seen it yet. Clint was grateful that she bought it, and she saw him crack a smile when she purchased the Blu-Ray version. They went back to his place and watched it on Barney's PS3. He never gave Clint permission to use it, but Barney was never around much so it didn't matter. They watched the movie, and Clint started acting more like himself again. He cheered at the explosions, laughed at the cheesy dialogue, drooled over the bikini clad gun toting love interest. And of course, the signature three kicks to the head of the bad guy at the climactic battle. Happens in all the TKH movies. Natasha would never understand why boys were so into dumb stuff like that, but Clint was happy. That's all that mattered to her. That night they slept together, Clint holding her tenderly while they slumbered. She was hoping he would finish his earlier, ahem, act during her test, but he didn't seem up to it.

Sunday, they didn't do much more than watch TV together in comfortable quiet most of the day. Clint still wasn't saying much but he didn't seem so upset. That evening, she got a call from her foster mother saying she needed to come home. Natasha felt bad. She forgot to call and tell her that she was spending the night at Tony's on Friday. And again at Clint's last night. When she told Clint she had to go, he looked devastated. She was tempted to ignore her foster parents and stay with her partner, but they had been good to her for a long time now. She kissed Clint goodbye and went home. She felt disappointed and went to bed early. When Clint picked her up in the morning, her heart sank. Clint was mad again. No scratch that, he was heated. His eyes were partially red and he looked like he didn't get a lot of sleep. On the ride to school, Natasha asked him what was wrong. Clint's hands were gripping tightly on the steering wheel and she grew nervous. She knew he was hung over and more irritable than normal. He told her about last night. How pretty much right after she left he hit the bottle. Hard. He got himself nice and saucy and decided to do something stupid; he left the fucking house. Clint went to the corner store near his house, and he encountered Steve and Thor. He told her how stupid he was acting, flirting with Steve and telling them how he grew up in the circus. Natasha was happy Steve and Thor were gracious enough to take him home, but Clint was pissed. She tried to tell him that it could've gone worse. How they still hadn't discussed Clint becoming compromised. Clint grew quiet again and turned on his loud heavy-metal. Natasha grew frustrated herself. That fucking dummy. He KNOWS that music won't help his head! Clint said he wouldn't lie to her, and he wasn't, but she was still mad. Clint was bothered like she had never seen him before, and it all came back to Tony fucking Stark.

That's who Natasha was waiting on now. She should be with Clint eating mediocre chicken nuggets in the lunchroom, but nope. A stream of students flowed out of the classroom. Tony was the last to exit. He was in a silky yellow t-shirt and black skinny pants with a red scarf and shades. Tony paused when he saw her, lifting his shades to his forehead. Natasha was expecting him to be mad at her. She did smack the shit out of him after all. To her surprise, he looked more shocked and a little scared than anything else. She motioned "Come here" to him with her finger. He did so quietly, standing in front of her cautiously while the other students walked around them. She rolled her eyes and sighed. Time to get this over with. Tony shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at her closely.

"You here to slap me some more, Romanoff?" he asked bitterly.

Natasha narrowed her eyes. Just great. He had an attitude, too.

"As much as I'd like to, no I'm not."

"Then what is it? I'm hungry." Tony quipped.

Natasha took a quick step forward. Tony took one step back and gulped. Natasha laughed internally. He was scared of her. Good. She smiled wickedly.

"You know, Tony, after Saturday morning I didn't know what I would do if I saw you again the rest of the weekend."

"Like what?" asked Tony.

Her wicked smile widened.

"Oh you know, if I would do something like,...cut you out. Stomp you in the street. Kick. Your. Ass."

Tony's eyes bulged, and she chuckled softly while shaking her head.

"And amazingly, today all I can do is sympathize with you."

Tony crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow. He snorted, obviously skeptical of her.

"Oh that's rich. And just what do mean by that, Romanoff?" he asked.

Natasha lowered her eyebrows. He wasn't calling her by her first name. Not even 'Bonnie', a nickname she was ashamed to admit had grown on her.

"Clint." she said simply.

Tony stuck his tongue in his cheek and looked the other way.

"What about him?" he asked.

He wanted to sound upset, but Natasha heard how his voice raised slightly.

"He's driving you bonkers with his stubbornness. It's enough to make you want to punch a puppy.I know. He's been doing it to me too since we left your place."

Tony looked back at her.

"What are you talking about?"

"Clint wasn't talking to me that much this weekend. You know I'm his confidante, but he was on edge pretty much the entire time. He may look angry, but really he's just afraid that if he opens his mouth, something he doesn't want to say admit will come out."

Tony's mouth was still in a frown, but she saw his big brown eyes lit up. He looked at her knowingly and uncrossed his arms. Natasha ran a hand through her ponytail and gave a small nod.

"Yeah, Tony. Clint's been compromised. We both know by who."

Tony took a step closer to her.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked.

Natasha stepped closer herself. Tony was only a little bit taller than her, but the way her green eyes cut into his made him nervous. Good, because she was all business now.

"Tony Stark, you tell me right now what you want with Clint. Because if your agenda is just to fuck with him and make him another one of your sexual conquests, make no delusions; I will kill you. I'm talking razor blades and lemon juice here." she told him, putting as much ice in her voice as possible.

Rather than buckle at the knees like she secretly hoped he would, Tony instead leaned closer to her and looked at her challengingly. His own eyes cutting into her now, and she was impressed that it worked for a millisecond.

"Natasha, I'm curious, are you doing this out of love?"

Natasha raised her eyebrows. Love? Love?! Ha! Who the fuck does he think I am?

"Clint is very important to me, but no, Stark. Love is for children." she replied.

Tony licked his upper lip and laughed quietly for a second.

"Well Natasha, I'm sure you've already noticed than I can be pretty childish."

Natasha closed her eyes, looked down and sighed. In a matter of seconds, Tony received an ocean of respect from her. He stood his ground against her icy demeanor, something that made grown men scared to look her way. Natasha now knew Tony wanted Clint in more ways than one. She opened her eyes, and Tony was smiling warmly at her. Nothing else needed to be said except one thing;

"Bathroom." she said, quickly turning around and walking towards the lunch room.

Natasha didn't see his reaction, but she didn't feel him walking behind her. Apparently he got the message. It was now up to Clint to decide how to finish this situation, and time for Tony to either nut up or shut up. In the cafeteria, she got her food tray fairly quickly. Then she walked around and scanned the place. All of the tables were taken, and Clint wasn't there to save a seat for her. Shit. I'm too late.

"Hey Natasha!" a familiar voice called out.

Natasha looked over to her left and saw Steve waving at her. He was at a table with Bruce, Sam, and Thor, gesturing to an empty seat they had. Natasha took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Time for a first; lunch without her partner. She let herself smile as she approached their table. It was a genuine smile, because now Clint wasn't the only one who was compromised.

A/N: Uh oh. ;)