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There was a slow clap that started the moment the elevator doors opened and Bruce stepped onto the communal floor of the Tower. It was Tony who started it and the rest all turned and joined as Bruce made his way further inside, looking at all of them with a mix of confusion and amusement.
“Alright, what’s the big deal? What did I miss?”
“Miss? You didn’t miss anything, Brucie. You’ve just had your first Daily Bugle interview. Welcome to the club. How awful was it?” Tony asked.
Bruce looked around at each of them and was comforted by the matching looks of general annoyance and understanding.
“You’ve all been interviewed by them?”
There were varying affirmative responses around the room and then Tony spoke again.
“Yes, mine was titled ‘Alcoholism and Avenging’,” Tony said with an intense eye roll. “I’d only been sober a week at that point and let me tell ya, there’ve been few times when the temptation to give in has been stronger than after that interview.”
“She titled mine ‘Midwestern Hick to High Class Hero,’” Clint added, Tony and Natasha laughing. Tony managed to compose himself but Natasha leaned against Clint and kept laughing. Clint pushed her over playfully. “As if yours was
any
better.”
Natasha wiped her eyes and said, “My title was fine. It was just the fact that she asked me when I was going to settle down and pop out some baby spiders.”
“Oh my
god
,” Steve groaned, dragging a hand down his face but also laughing. “I thought her thinking I was a Trump supporter was bad.
Baby spiders
? Really?”
“Really really,” Nat confirmed with a nod of her head that made a strand of hair fall into her face and she tucked it behind her ear again. “She even asked if I was eyeing any of my teammates as a potential partner.”
“And did you name anyone?” Bruce asked, taking his glasses off to rub his tired eyes now that the relief of their shared experience had calmed him down.
“Oh, of course. I said Steve.”
Steve choked on his drink but Tony was laughing again. “Natasha, I’m gay and very out.”
Nat shrugged. “I know and so did she. I just wanted her to feel as stupid as her questions.”
Clint raised a hand for a high-five that she slapped.
“Not sure how I feel about your first defense being your sexuality and not the very obvious and handsome boyfriend standing beside you,” Tony said in fake offense, a hand over his heart to add to the drama.
“Well, when I told the interviewer I was dating you, she acted like I hadn’t said anything and continued to ask me about my availability, so I wasn’t sure people understood those words together in a sentence,” Steve remarked with a sigh.
Thor cleared his throat and they all turned to look at him where he was desperately trying to remove a Jenga block in the game he was playing against Clint. He paused his attempt and looked over at the rest of them.
“I, too, fell victim to one such interview,” Thor said with a solemn shake of his head.
“Please share,” Nat encouraged.
“She inquired as to how long it took me to learn English,” Thor said, adding to the list of grievances this reporter had committed against them. Several groans sounded out in the room.
“Please tell me you gave her a smart ass response,” Clint said, his hands in a begging gesture.
Thor smirked, sipping his drink as he said, “I said no time at all and then asked how long it took her. I don’t believe she published that moment.”
“Hell yes,” Clint said, raising a hand for another high-five and visibly regretting it the moment Thor’s hand hit his hand. He shook it off, grimacing.
“So, what did she ask you?” Steve wondered, indicating with his chin towards Bruce.
“Actually, having heard all of yours, maybe it wasn’t
that
bad after all,” Bruce said, dragging a hand down the three-day beard he had grown due to nothing other than laziness. “She kept trying to pit me against Hulk.”
“How so?”
“I told her Hulk’s a hero and I’m a scientist and she asked if I resent that.”
She had started the interview just as poorly as it had ended. The hero discussion came towards the end but the first thing she had said when she’d sat down was, ‘Who am I talking to right now?’
And nothing irritated Bruce as much as the thought that she assumed Hulk was in control of his body. Not because that had never happened before but, in the nicest possible way, Hulk was not as intelligent as Bruce and that was noticeable. If Bruce wanted recognition for anything at all, it would be his intellect and that interviewer had, in less than ten words, dismissed it entirely.
“She’s very… instigative,” Steve settled on instead of the much less friendly terms Bruce was sure had gone through his mind.
“That’s a nice way to say she’s an asshole, Cap,” Clint laughed, pulling a Jenga block out with no issue and making Thor frown.
“The important part is you survived and we wanted to be here as your welcome back party to make sure you know not to take anything she said personally. She does it to all of us. It’s the training they get from that Jameson hack over at the Daily Bugle,” Tony said, swirling his mocktail that Natasha had most likely made for him.
She had been experimenting with non-alcoholic drinks since half the team couldn’t enjoy the effects anyway—at least not with earthly liquor—and one member was just about to get his two year sobriety chip.
“Well… thanks, you guys. Honestly, it makes me feel a lot better. Felt like I was being targeted,” Bruce said.
Tony patted his back and offered him a sip of the mocktail, which Bruce declined.
“Anytime, Bananner Republic. What’s your plan now? Wanna sip on sugary goodness until our teeth rot or attempt to join Jenga with those two?”
“Third option. I think I’m gonna shower and call it a night. It took all of my strength to keep Hulk from coming out to yell at her and I’m exhausted.”
“Aw,” Clint said, pulling out another block and this time he wasn’t even looking. Thor swore. “I wanted you to watch Thor have a fit when he loses.”
“Record it and we can watch it after Bake Off.”
“Great idea.”
“Excuse me, but why have you already decided that I shall lose?” Thor asked, genuinely offended and Clint just laughed and waved it away. Thor scowled and started another three minute process of removing one block.
Bruce smiled tiredly. Yeah, they were definitely the best part of what he did.
+
Despite the comfort he found in their shared negative experience with the Daily Bugle and despite the fact that he knew she was just trying to elicit a response from him that would make a good headline, he still couldn’t get that interview out of his head.
Even less so once it had been published. Moments that didn’t make her look so great had been edited or removed altogether from the written interview and from the short video clips posted to the Daily Bugle’s social media and web page, only small, small excerpts made the final cut and they didn’t do Bruce any favors.
They made him seem cold and emotionless and the only times he did show any emotion, it was undeniable anger. The written interview also shined a poor light on him, pushing the narrative that Bruce hated heroes and heroism and that that was why he was glad it was Hulk’s thing and not his.
He sighed heavily and closed down the Daily Bugle’s website. He knew he shouldn’t have read it but he’d rather know what people were saying about him when they had an audience as large as theirs. At least he could prepare himself for the backlash he might get.
He put his phone down and wrapped both hands around the tea in front of him. He had done something he often did and gone out to a small cafe in Queens.
He hated Manhattan. It was so busy and full of tourists and just way too much noise and commotion. Brooklyn was better but people were also starting to realize that but Queens was still pretty untouched as far as crowds went.
He had always liked Queens. If not for the rare calmness it tended to have then definitely for its diversity. He loved that almost every stop along the 7 and N trains belonged to a different nationality or ethnic group. And especially Jackson Heights. Jackson Heights was where he went when he started to miss the years he spent in South Asia.
Today though he was in Astoria for Brazilian food, which was one of the other countries he had spent some time in and grown to love (and miss) the food. He had been craving
chimarrão
and knew just the place to find it.
As he sipped, he watched the world go by outside, listened to the people laughing and talking, picking up phrases here and there since he had tried learning Portuguese while he lived there. He was focusing on eavesdropping on the gossip between two of the waiters when someone caught his attention.
“Oh my god. Oh my
god
. You’re Bruce Banner. Holy—okay, wait. Sorry. Hi.”
Bruce sighed heavily and looked up into the face of a kid no older than twenty. He had big brown eyes and brown hair and was standing there open-mouthed with a plate of food on a tray.
“If you’re going to ask for a picture with Hulk, I’d kindly ask you to reconsider.”
“No, I, uh, Hulk’s cool. He’s really cool—don’t get me wrong—but you’re
Bruce Banner
.”
“I am,” Bruce confirmed, confused.
“I am your
biggest
fan. The—the work you did on molecular and cellular gene regulation last year was—” He cut himself off to mime his head exploding along with sound effects. “It’s such an honor to meet you, sir. Uh, Doctor. I admire you so much.”
Bruce relaxed and even smiled. “Why thank you. What’s your name?”
“Oh my god, right. I’m Peter. Peter Parker.” He stuck out a hand that Bruce shook gently so as not to knock his food out of his hand.
“Peter, who are you—holy shit,” the dark-haired boy said who came up behind Peter with his own tray of food. A dark-haired girl taller than both boys also walked up, her expression similar to Bruce’s in the first moments of his conversation with Peter but once she focused on what had stopped the other two, her eyes widened too.
“You’re Bruce Banner,” she said flatly in a way that reminded him of Natasha.
“I am,” Bruce said again.
“Peter, how the hell did you just
meet
Bruce Banner? Or, I’m sorry, Doctor, was he just standing here staring in silence? He does that sometimes,” the other boy said apologetically.
“I did not. I-I do not,” Peter defended himself, looking between the two of them with the kind of poor lying skills that let Bruce know he did in fact do that from time to time. “I was talking.
We
were talking.”
“Did he mention the molecular and cellular gene regulation work? He didn’t shut up about it for almost three months,” the girl said.
“He did. Are you all interested in science?” Bruce asked, looking at each of them.
The girl scoffed. “I would not have suffered through Midtown Sci-Tech with these two dorks if we weren’t.”
“I once built a Lego replica of your Gamma Ray Projector,” the dark haired boy added with a grin.
“Yeah, we all loved you growing up. I mean, we still do. Not love. Admire. Look up to?” Peter said, attempting to save face but Bruce was already laughing softly.
“Well, thank you. That’s very nice to hear. Would you like to sit?”
“You’re not waiting on anyone?” Peter asked.
Bruce shook his head and kicked out the chair across from him, reaching over to grab one from the table beside and Peter got them one more and they joined him.
“This is MJ and that’s Ned, by the way, Dr Banner.”
“Pleasure to meet you all. Home for the holidays?”
“Yeah,” Ned said, stirring his coffee. “We’re all at MIT, so we came back together for the break.”
“Ugh, MIT,” Bruce said teasingly. “Tony will be elated to hear you’re all going to his alma mater.”
“Tony as in Tony Stark as in Iron Man?” Ned asked and Bruce saw him pinch Peter’s arm in excitement. Bruce nodded. “That’s just so cool.”
“For what it’s worth, I did
try
to apply to CalTech but my aunt wanted me close,” Peter said and Bruce waved away his worries.
“MIT’s great. Tony and I just have an ongoing rivalry over, well, everything,” Bruce said with a laugh. Bruce sipped his tea and then looked up again to find them all staring at him like he had grown two heads. “What?”
“It’s just so… surreal?” Ned asked, looking at MJ who nodded.
“Definitely. Like you actually exist. You’re not in one of our textbooks or on TV. This is wild,” she agreed.
“Also, kudos to you for not ever becoming a super villain. Totally would've been so easy. You would’ve been top three in no time. Especially easy when the Daily Bugle exists to tear everyone down all the time,” Ned said and all three of them made an irritated noise. “That article was bullshit.”
“Usually I support women’s wrongs just as much as their rights but after her interview with Black Widow focused primarily on when she would be settling down and having kids and not at all on any of her badassery or intellect, she landed on my hit list,” MJ said frustratedly.
“I’m going to tell her you said that. She’ll love it.”
MJ’s smile grew wide and she looked away, down to her food that she stabbed with a fork to seemingly hide how excited that made her.
“You know,” Ned began, getting Bruce’s attention again, “years ago I heard about this doctor traveling around South Asia and working for free, helping people out. You mentioned living there for a while in the interview. Was that you?”
Bruce nodded.
“I knew it!
They
said it was too far-fetched but I knew it was you. And it just makes sense because you’ve got an M.D. too.”
The information these kids had on him was shocking but not uncomfortably so. More so just… shockingly… shocking. He had never known before that he had his own fan club, let alone a fan club who were actually interested in Bruce’s pursuits and accomplishments separate from the Avengers and Hulk. And even if it was just these three college kids who held him in such high regard, he would cherish this day for years to come.
“Okay, yeah, we get it, we owe you two dollars,” Peter said with an eye roll.
“Pretty low stakes bet,” Bruce noted with a snort.
MJ laughed. “We’re broke college students. Two bucks felt pretty steep at the time.”
They chatted about deeper nuclear physics- and biochemistry-related topics, fluctuating between discussions, recent works and Bruce’s own works and contributions to the fields. In between that, they talked about MIT and college life in general, all of them rolling their eyes in mock annoyance when Bruce told them he first graduated at fourteen and so never had the true college experience.
Conversation moved to more general topics after Bruce got up to get himself a bite to eat as well and they wanted to know more about the other Avengers and what kinds of things the Daily Bugle had gotten wrong about them and also just what they were actually like.
Bruce told them some of his friends’ less incriminating stories—Steve cheating at Monopoly, Tony falling asleep at the breakfast table regularly, Thor breaking things and lying about it, Clint eating like a four-year-old, and Natasha loving pranks—and then Peter’s phone rang and they were reminded that they needed to get back for some family time.
“It was such a pleasure to meet you, Dr Banner,” Peter said, shaking his hand again but with much more force and enthusiasm than the first time. Bruce just smiled.
“Yeah, you’re really, really cool,” Ned added.
Bruce was just about to open his mouth to thank them both when MJ spoke.
“Also your attitude to all of this is like… really awesome. That shitty article came out but here you are out in the open enjoying your tea, not giving two fucks. You just always seem to do whatever you think is best for you and the big guy. I’ve always admired that about you, Doctor.” She offered him a smile and then stuck out her hand and he shook it.
Bruce was speechless again and feeling more emotions than he would care to admit. He reached into his pocket and took out a pen and paper, noting something down and handing it to Peter who reached for it.
“My email. If any of you ever need help with a project or just want to look really cool at MIT, hit me up. Me or even Tony would be happy to help.”
“Or… or Black Widow?” MJ asked quietly, rocking on her heels.
“Or her. Physics isn’t her strong point but she’s got a lot of knowledge of biochemistry. Or you know, she’d also just be happy to show up. I don’t think she knew she had fans either.”
“Well, she should,” MJ said proudly.
“Thank you, Dr Banner. This is… this is
insanely
nice of you,” Peter said.
“No, thank you three. This was… I needed this. I appreciate it. You’ve made my month.”
The three of them exchanged looks, each practically radiating with happiness that Bruce didn’t think a short lunch with him warranted but was still happy to experience. He waved to them as they left and then ordered himself another tea as a treat, just holding it between his hands once he got it and smiling down into the steaming liquid.
So maybe his friends on the team were still his number one best part of what he did but those kids—and on the off chance that there were others like them—were the second best part.