Chapter Text
Bruce Banner didn’t know what hit him.
He’d only been in the compound for two days and had finally gotten around to organizing the new lab that Tony had designed specifically for him. The tension between the Rogue Avengers and Tony had been fairly high this morning so Bruce had decided to retreat to a calmer environment. He was carefully measuring his new shipment of hydrochloric acid into beakers when he felt something small and hard bounce off of his right shoulder blade.
Bruce turned around but there was no one to be found. His eyes gazed around the rest of the lab before lowering to the floor, where he bent down to observe the offending object. A small rock lay at his feet.
His eyes flickered up again to the entrance to the lab, but there was no one to be found.
“That’s odd... maybe it’s just Tony playing a prank on me.” He mumbled after picking up the rock and placing it on one of the lab benches.
He turned around to continue his measurements when he felt another object hit him slightly harder, this time right in the back of his head. He whipped around just in time to see a flash of movement behind one of the lab tables near the back of the lab.
Gotcha.
Bruce slowly turned back to his work, waiting to see if Tony would fling yet another object at him. One minute and 35 seconds goes by before Bruce feels one more rock hitting him square in the back.
“Ok seriously Tony? I know you missed me but that’s no excuse to be throwing small objects at me.” He says as he steps over to the lab table where the projectiles had been coming from. “If you wanted to join me in the lab all you had to do was a-“, His words cut off as he sees who exactly had been throwing the rocks at him.
Behind the lab table, is a grinning teenager sitting cross legged on the floor, looking very much like he’s trying to hold back his laughter. Definitely not Tony.
“Um, you’re not Tony?” Bruce asks, confused at this sudden turn of events. How did he manage to get himself in these situations? Is a quiet day spent peacefully in the lab too much to ask for?
”Astounding observation skills Dr. Banner. Though I’ve been told I have Tony’s rugged good looks, so I won’t hold it against you for confusing the two of us.” The teen said as he heaved himself up from the cold, tile floor.
As the boy stood, Bruce noticed that the teen was taller than him by a few inches, with a mop of blonde hair on his head, and a shit-eating grin on his face. The teen adjusted the worn leather jacket he had on, before reaching out a hand for Bruce to shake.
“How rude of me, I haven’t even introduced myself. I’m Harley. I guess you could say I’m one of Tony’s interns.” The teen said casually as he reached a hand out for Bruce to shake. “I’m also incredibly interested in your work on gamma radiation in relation to slowing the spread of squamous cell carcinoma.” He says, face turning serious for just a moment. “My mother had melanoma, which eventually metastasized and ended up in her lymphatic system and pancreas. After her death I told Tony that I’d like to start working on different treatment and prevention methods for various types of skin cancers.”
Bruce tentatively reached out to shake Harley’s hand. “Oh, um, well I’m glad you appreciate my research. It’s nice to know that there are young people taking an interest in my work.”
“Don’t sell yourself short Dr. Banner. There are a lot of people my age who are interested in your work! Peter is one of your biggest fans. You’ll meet him in a little bit. I’m sure he’ll come racing down here as soon as he finds out I snuck down to meet you.” As soon as the words left his mouth, the door to the lab swings open and another teen steps lightly into the room.
“Harley! You know Mr. Stark didn’t want us talking with any of the Rogue Avengers yet.” The curly-haired teen mumbles, stepping up next to Harley, but still not making eye contact with Bruce.
“Well it’s not like we want to talk with them anyway, Pete. Besides, Dr. Banner isn’t even a Rogue Avenger so technically he doesn’t even count.” He rests his arm around Peter’s shoulders. “Dr. Banner, this is Peter. He’s Tony’s other intern. He’s also got a huge nerd crush on you.” Harley says with a grin.
Peter gives Harley a shove, making the boy stumble into the nearby table. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Dr. Banner, though I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with this idiot. We’re really not supposed to be in here.” He says, glancing between Bruce and Harley.
“It’s, um, it’s alright. He wasn’t doing any harm, besides throwing a few rocks at me. Speaking of which, why were you throwing rocks at me?” Bruce says, still puzzled by how he ended up in this situation.
Before Harley could respond, FRIDAY’s voice echoed through the room. “Boys, Boss would like to know why the two of you are bothering Dr. Banner, when you could be doing something productive such as helping Boss in the lab.”
Harley rolls his eyes. “Saved by the bell. Don’t worry Dr. Banner, this isn’t the last you’ve seen of us. Come on darlin’, let’s go see what the old guy needs us to do now.” With that, he sauntered out of the lab.
“Sorry again Dr. Banner. It really was great to meet you. I’ll let you get back to what you were doing.” Peter called over his shoulder as he tried to catch up to Harley. Bruce watched through the glass windows of the walls as Harley and Peter stopped in the hallway. It seemed like they were having some sort of argument, before Harley once again wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulders, pulling him in to give his forehead a kiss. The arguing stopped and the two of them made their way to the elevators to head towards Tony’s lab.
Well. It’s definitely not the strangest thing Bruce had ever seen. He shrugged his shoulders, before turning back to his work.
He hadn’t realized Stark industries even had interns. He’d never seen any before. But these two seemed to work pretty closely with Tony, so they must have been around for awhile.
’It’s none of my business.’ Bruce thinks. ‘If Tony wants to tell me about his interns, than he can do that on his own time. He obviously is trying to keep them on the down low.’
Bruce decides to file the situation away for another day, and returns to his measurements.