Electrolyte Mind Chapter 3: Game Breaker, an avengers fanfic

Word Count (this chapter): approx. 3500

A/N: Sorry for the delay! We ended up vacationing an extra week, I got to see my girlfriend for six or so days, which rocked, however, sadly, there was no time to write and very little working internet connection, which I needed to do research to write the end of the chapter.

On the bright side, this chapter was insanely fun to write. Plenty of science bros interaction, now with bonus science, and a few more Avengers and Marvel characters pop in this time around. Like usual, cliff-hanger ending, but I should have the next chapter up soon if all goes well.

Thanks for reading and enjoy!

-Chapter 3: Game-breaker - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It happens sophomore year.

Tony doesn't even realize it.

He sleeps every day in his room, and his dad is working too hard to bother checking the security cameras. There's no reason to suspect anything is wrong. When Tony starts feeling a slight pinch in his chest when he is running too hard or kissing too much, he dismisses it as paranoia. With what happened to his mom years ago, a little paranoia is normal, he thinks.

Tony doesn't exercise as much, tones down the 'flirt' part of the 'flirt millionaire brilliant classmate' title, and it goes away.

Or maybe Tony just gets used to it.

To: tonystark
From: drbb
Subject: Its Bruce
Message:

Just clarifying, you're not going to be soliciting me into going to another nude party of yours, right?

- Bruce

To: drbb
From: tonystark
Subject: Oh you're alive
Message:

Haven't heard from you in a month, Banner. Why the sudden interest?

|| Tony Stark 3-

To: tonystark
From: drbb
Subject: New Message
Message:

My nerd network says you're throwing another. Just checking in to make sure there won't be any threats to my ass regarding this one.

- Bruce

To: drbb
From: tonystark
Subject: New Message
Message:

Oh cute.

|| Tony Stark 3-

Tony is actually in no fucking mood for this. He doesn't want some prissy nobody loser Banner snarking at him and pretending like he and Tony even breathe the same air, and he absolutely isn't thinking this because his chest has been pinching itself all day and he can barely think over the pain.

To: tonystark
From: drbb
Subject: New Message
Message:

My ass?

- Bruce

To: drbb
From: tonystark
Subject: New Message
Message:

I was mad you got valedictorian. Hence, I invited you to one of my parties to fuck with you. In case you missed the myriad of girls laughing at you behind your back, it was pretty fucking successful.

|| Tony Stark 3-

Bruce rereads it, eyebrows high. It's not like he really wanted to talk to Tony—Tony is no one to him—but his mom's been drilling him on getting more human interaction in his day-to-day regimen, and Tony Stark isn't the worst company Bruce has had. He peruses the message again. Maybe Tony was kidding?

To: tonystark
From: drbb
Subject: New Message
Message:

you ok bro?

- Bruce

To: drbb
From: tonystark
Subject: New Message
Message:

Internet speech isn't funny. You're not funny, or fun to be around. Ideally, fuck off and never talk to me again.

|| Tony Stark 3-

And that is the game-breaker.

To: tonystark
From: drbb
Subject: New Message
Message:

Jesus fuck you are being serious. Yeah, whatever; fuck you too.

- Bruce

Tony skims it then shuts his laptop in relief. He just wants to be alone.

Bruce spends the rest of the summer alone.

Sophomore year, Tony comes to school in Calvin Klein sunglasses with golden rims and a doctor's note forged by Jarvis excusing him from any hardcore running when he takes gym next semester. He walks in and the first thing he notices is a tall blond with a queer smile and football jersey that wasn't there last year two lockers over from his.

Steve Rogers, he learns, fresh from Kentucky, quarterback of the football team, and an all-American jerk-off. What really settles Tony Stark hating the guy is when Tony's gang of girls crowd around Steve instead of him.

At lunch, they're still chatting him up. It doesn't take a genius, Tony thinks, to tell Steve is as pure as apple pie, giving girls that just want one thing respect like they deserve it or something. It's insane. It leaves Tony avoiding his usual spot in favor of eating outside.

Eating outside is a privilege reserved for the top ten students of each class—the school's idea of encouragement. Only one other kid is abusing it today.

Bruce glances up from pretending to have a lunch to his visitor. He and Tony think the exact same thing:

'Oh, I know that jackass.'

Though, on a scale of jackass, Bruce ranks significantly lower than Steve Amurica Rogers, so Tony holds his ground and sits across from him at the picnic table.

"Bruce, right?" he asks. It's bold and with a smirk. Worst case scenario, he drives Bruce out, which will finally give Tony the alone time he needs.

Bruce isn't particularly elated to see Tony, but he isn't some oversensitive girl who's going to cry just because a boy hurt his feelings either. He returns the smirk. "Tony Stark. Long time no see."

"Few months, huh?"

"Has to be."

The passive-aggressive air lingers a second before Tony breaks it. "We didn't exactly end on good terms, though," Tony sighs. He hates being nice, but he hates the idea of sitting with Captain America more. "Sorry."

"Who cares? Not like you have a reputation for being nice, anyway."

Tony smiles with spite. "Runs in the family." He takes out the brown bag his lunch is in. "Well, the men in the family, at least."

The comment slips past Bruce when he notices the bag. "Tony Stark uses bag lunches?"

"They're biodegradable," Tony says, pulling out a lunch made of food they don't sell in the US.

"Yeah, sure. Right."

Tony purses his lips and looks at him. "My dad makes weapons. I think at least one Stark should try to help the world instead of breaking it." He crumples the bag and chucks it into the mulch under a tree.

Bruce raises a brow at the aggressiveness of the throw, but just says, "Got it."

"So where's your lunch? Rotting the Earth away in a trashcan?"

At his five-story mansion in India with all the other things that don't exist, Bruce thinks. "I eat quick."

"Oh, look! My turn to call you a liar. Take half of mine; I hate Indian food anyway."

"Did you say Indian food?" Bruce asks and shamelessly snags the larger half of the entrée. "My absolute favorite. In the world. Ever."

"Really? Thank god, I'll bring you leftovers. Our chef thinks getting the ingredients actually from India will make me like their food more. I don't, and it doesn't."

You know, Bruce thinks he may have judged Tony too quickly.

"If you want," Bruce replies, pretending nonchalance.

"As if you aren't salivating like Niagara falls at the thought." Tony tries a bite of curry-stuffed-or-coated-or-whatever peppers and spits it into his hand. "Jesus, it tastes like Satan."

"You know what Satan tastes like?"

"Definitely. Satan is a woman, and eating woman is one of my specialties," he scrapes the food off his palm into the dirt.

"Just not Indian girls?"

"Never. Ittastes like curry down there."

They last three seconds before breaking down laughing.

"You don't hold grudges, do you?" Tony asks once they calm down. "To be nice to me now, you can't."

"I've had nicer people do worse things to me, and you gave me food." Food is important to someone who doesn't get to eat every day, Bruce doesn't add. "And you were probably just on your period or something."

"And what makes you think that I'm not just a jerk?"

"Because you find my internet speak hilarious."

"Oh, yes. The approximate four times we talked, I have found you funny."

"I said hilarious."

"Shut up, Banner."

"Don't—" he starts but glances at the door. "Oh great. People."

Tony raises a brow. "People?"

"Well, a person at least."

Tony looks at the doorway and sees Steve Rogers walking through, even though someone who just started and hasn't gotten their grades yet and shouldn't be allowed outside. The ass probably just charmed his way past the supervisor. His eyes meet Roger's, and Roger smiles a wide, honest smile that is absolutely annoying.

"Aaand, Bruce out," Bruce says and sits up, but Tony reaches across the table and pulls his sleeve.

"You are not leaving me alone with Steve fucking—"

"Tony Stark, right?" Steve asks, approaching him.

"Rogers!" Tony turns around with a smile. "Hi!"

"Smooth," Bruce says.

"Bruce. Shut up."

"Um, I'm not interrupting anything am I?" There is an aura of kindness about Steve that tells Bruce instantly they won't get along. If people are too nice, Bruce feels like shit about himself. Bruce isn't nice. Not usually. He also has enough introspection to know when the people around him are just going to make him jealous. Still, there's no reason to be mean to him, a notion Tony clearly doesn't share.

"What could you possibly be interrupting?" says Tony.

"I don't know… " And for the second time that day, Steve sits at Tony's table. He leans forward on it, glimpses from Bruce to Tony. "A romantic get-away?"

Without missing a beat, Bruce throws his hands up. "Oh shit, Stark. He caught us." Tony dully slaps Bruce's face; Bruce dully replies, "Ow."

"Actually not interrupting anything." Tony's cheeks are getting sore from keeping the smile. "Sit down; the more the merrier!"

"Good" Steve scoots an inch closer to Bruce. The way Bruce side-eyes him tells Tony he isn't alone in not liking nice people. "Because I thought maybe you didn't like me? Veronica was saying I kind of 'stole your thunder'?"

"No, Thor is still very much my thunder, and you would have to try a lot harder to steal my glamour."

"Ah, Tony," Bruce cuts in, "if you're still trying to convince him we are not on a romantic outing, probably don't use the word 'glamour.'"

Tony and Steve blatantly ignore him.

"Well, I just wanted to formally introduce myself, and I hope we can get along," Steve puts his hand out for Tony to shake. Tony stares at it, back to Steve, back to the hand, and then once to Bruce, who nods with a clandestine look, and then finally, Tony returns the shake.

"That is certainly something you can try to do," Tony says.

Steve leaves, finally, and Tony releases his smile and groans. "I hate nice people!"

"There is no way I can interpret that statement that isn't an insult to me."

"Then I'll do it for you: it wasn't. It was for him obviously. You're an okay level of nice."

"Thanks?"

Bruce finishes the rest of the food and gets up to throw it out. After he sits back down, he comments, "So we've raised Steve to Voldemort-status? He-who-must-not-be-named? And Steve seems like an actually good person. It's not fair to dislike him."

"But you don't like him, clearly."

"I'm jealous of him. Doesn't mean I don't like him."

"Jealous? Seriously? You just met him! Is it because he's on the football team? Oh, jesus, you're not one of those nerds who want to be cool, right?"

"Temperature isn't even a variable, rest assured."

"That was a terrible joke and why jealous, then?" Tony asks, and the lunch bell rings. "And you better answer before you leave!"

Tony yells it, but Bruce is already at the door, glancing back and smiling once before going inside. The smile makes Tony late to class.

Lunch with Banner doesn't become a regular thing since Steve drifts from Tony's crowd into his own enough that the only common friend they have is Thor, and it rains every day for two weeks. But Tony does get Banner's cell number via email. He learns Bruce hadn't changed much since they last met other than getting texting on his phone.

My plan is like a cent per text so we can't talk a lot. And emailing is still quicker than texting.
-Bruce

I am sure for someone with a flip phone and no one to talk to, it is.
|| Tony 3-

Then right after:

I didn't mean that to be mean.
|| Tony 3-

I was under the impression we still didn't like each other.
-Bruce

I like you. You are one of the few people I know who understand the arcane art of not talking too much. You are also probably one of the only people I know who know what the word 'arcane' actually means. I'm sorry I was a prick earlier. Really, I am.
|| Tony 3-

Bruce doesn't care because he's already forgiven Tony. Instead, he focuses on the more exploitable aspects of Tony's message.

Shutting up is esoteric?
-Bruce

Your grammar is flawless, marry me. And yes it is.
|| Tony 3-

You propose to every literati?
-Bruce

Jesus, synonyms are like dirty talk to me.
|| Tony 3-

You aren't jacking off to my text messages, right? Because I can call you if you are—lot better results. Texting is the lowest form of communication.
-Bruce

Right below email.
|| Tony 3-

ha
-Bruce

That was funny.
-Bruce

REALLY NOW.
|| Tony 3-

… And, to clarify, I can sort your number under the 'Friends' section of my phone? Which is only two other people, so feel special. Or, if you find it more expident, my 'Bitches' section has been pretty lonely lately…
|| Tony 3-

Sure
-Bruce

To bitches or friends?
|| Tony 3-

Friends.
- Bruce

Okay
- Tony

Bruce almost misses Tony's signature change, but then he grins at it and doesn't.

Tony giving him leftovers begins to get awkward when Tony gets creative with where he leaves them. They begin to appear in his locker, his desk in home room, the pockets in his backpack, and even his shoe once when he used the school's workout room during free period. After he throws a sneaker at the side of Tony's head, the food starts getting dropped off outside at the start of each lunch. They exchange snarky comments for a minute; Bruce says thanks, and Tony makes a smile even his anti-Indian food joke of the day can't mask.

The social caste system isn't as cruel as movies play it out to be, so Tony doesn't get shit for occasionally wondering outside to eat somewhere quiet for once, and Bruce's friends don't really ask why rich, cool Tony Stark is sitting outside with them.

Bruce does have friends. The change is nice and happens in his 7-person honors History class. Natasha Romonoff and Clint Barton don't know about the special lunch privileges for honor students. Bruce tells them; they start eating outside together once every few weeks. Natasha's humor is even dryer than Bruce's, and Clint has a quirk about him which makes him absolutely birdlike, somehow. When Bruce informs Clint this, Natasha says "if you're a bird, I'm a bird" to Clint, and though her face is stoic, there is a fondness in her voice that isn't. She then adds, "Though, to be fair, I've also slit a bird's throat and used its feathers for an art project two years ago, so do with it what you will." Clint's face becomes the highlight of Bruce's week.

Most importantly, Bruce doesn't have an 'incident' the whole first semester. No screaming at freshmen or calling teachers 'cunts' under his breath. The lack of bruises on his arm, for once, makes gym his second semester a bit more enjoyable. Tony makes the class a lot more enjoyable.

Gym is last period, Tony's schedule says, and it's one of those classes he likes no one in other than Bruce and Thor. Mix in Mr. America, Loki Odinson, and Mr. Odinson as their teacher, and gym class ninety-five percent sucks. Mr. Odinson's first order of business is making it very clear that he won't have any shit, and if any gay kids want to change with them like last year, they're doing it in the closet. And okay, Tony kind of agrees with that, but Steve makes a righteous comment about political correctness which makes Tony agree with Mr. Odinson even more just on principal.

Glaring at Steve, Mr. Odinson says, "None of you shits are telling me that if you got to change in a room full of girls, you wouldn't enjoy from the show. Fags follow same philosophy. No one changes with gender they're attracted to. End of sentence."

Fag is a little harsh, Tony thinks, but the tension in the gym is way too thick so instead of saying anything that might be mistaken for something else, he just lets out a cough and raises his hand.

"Excuse me, Mr O., but I have suddenly become the gay, and will have to change in the woman's locker room exclusively for the rest of my life starting right now." Steve crosses his arms; Bruce guffaws, and Mr. Odinson gives Tony a day's detention for being a smartass.

While Tony huffs, Bruce whispers in an exaggerated low voice, "And one detention to Mr. Odinson, too, for fucking abhorrent language."

They chuckle until they notice Mr. Odinson leering over them, hands crossed. He and Bruce only end up with a week's detention, which Tony considers totally worth it.

Detention isn't so bad, Bruce thinks, considering that Tony spends the entirety of it rewiring Bruce's phone so the phone company won't charge him anymore. Bruce ends the week with Clint, Natasha, Tony, and this odd kid named Thor's numbers in his contacts and in an incessant back-and-forth communication with Tony.

On Friday, Bruce is invited to Stark manor for the second time.

Question: scientifically, how screwed would you be to try to replicate Iron Man's suit?
-Tony

You want to recreate iron man?
-Bruce

Not yet. For now, I wanna make a mini-robot action figure that works the same as Anthony's suit does. Maybe better. How fucked am I?
-Tony

I have an old iron man figure with the anatomy pretty spot on if you're being serious. You could use the sizing as a reference to make your own model, and build up from there. But fair warning: I'm not much of an engineer so if anything spontaneously combusts, don't blame me.
-Bruce

A doll—I would have never thought to use one; that's brilliant! Bring it over my house next chance you get, Bruce.
-Tony

1. It's not a doll. 2. Sure but only if I get second dibs on working on it. I'm a bigger Anthony Marks fan than you anyway, and I need someone to science with.
-Bruce

You just used science as a verb. There is someone other than me who uses science as a verb, hell YES you may help me. But it's going to be pretty technical. Probably boring.
-Tony

How is technical boring?
-Bruce

Tony smiles and shakes his head because what were the odds Banner, of all people, actually spoke science?

It's not. Be over at seven tomorrow?
-Tony

Wouldn't miss it.
-Bruce

Saturday morning, Bruce re-combs his hair once more before leaving for Stark manor. The building seems even bigger than last time, and when he rings the doorbell he swears he can hear it echoing.

After a minute, the door is answered, and it isn't by a maid or Tony or that odd chef that insists Tony likes foreign foods. It's opened by Tony Stark's father.

Now, Bruce shouldn't be as surprised as he is that the owner of the house answered the door, but that logic doesn't stop him from swallowing hard and stammering.

"Mr. Stark, um! Hi. I'm Bruce. Banner, I mean; Bruce Banner. A friend of Tony's. I'm supposed to be coming over right—" Bruce looks at the dollar-store watch on his wrist— "now."

Howard's face looks exhausted. He isn't smiling or glowing like when he's on the cover of People Magazine or the New York Times. His face is contorted into a frown frown and there are dark circles under his eyes that have clearly been there a few days.

"Tony can't see people right now."

"Oh, he can't? I mean, not that that isn't perfectly okay. I can come back later or never. Never is cool too; never is great!"

Mr. Stark laughs but it's humorless. "Calm down. I'm glad Tony has a friend his own gender, for once. He just isn't home and won't be for a few days."

Bruce thinks for a minute that Tony was just kidding about the whole them being friends thing and that this was all some elaborate scheme to prank him. But the notion's ridiculous because his life isn't Mean Girls and no one would ever put that much thought into a joke, or into Bruce Banner in general either, he thinks.

"So, where is he, then? Tony, I mean. He didn't tell me he was going anywhere."

"It wasn't planned; he didn't blow you off if that's what you're stammering over."

Bruce is glad to hear that Tony didn't ditch him. He really does want to go sciencing with Stark—the younger one—and, okay, maybe Bruce raised Tony's friend level to 'best' in the last few weeks, but it wasn't like Tony had a lot of competition. Natasha and Clint had just left to spend a semester in Paris on an exchange program, and even if they hadn't, Bruce still would have liked Tony the best.

"Oh, so where is he?" Bruce asks.

Howard pauses a minute before answering: "The hospital. The machine I built to regulate his heart beat and keep his blood circulating malfunctioned, so blood flow slowed and stopped in one of his arteries."

Bruce's mom is a nurse. Bruce knows what can happen when blood doesn't flow right. Fatigue, brain damage, lack of balance, limbs falling off.

Tony really hates hospitals. He hates amnesia and fake-nice nurses and, mostly, he hates that the same doctor who killed his mom is about to try to fix him.