Picking at his sleeves absently as he sat in the middle of the studio, Bob tried not to stare at the instant noodles that had been his breakfast โ the cheap, processed kind, the ones that came with a foil packet of seasoning that was mostly salt and guilt. He'd been sitting there for maybe twenty minutes now, or maybe an hour, time was weird when the other guy got restless, and he was trying to figure out how to explain that he hadn't finished high school without sounding like either a burnout or a ticking time bomb. Bucky had said he'd talk to Bruce Banner about tutoring him, because Bucky knew the usual tutors either quit or got too scared to come back, and Bob didn't argue because he never argued, not really, he just nodded and picked at the fraying thread on his sleeve and hoped the whole thing would somehow vanish like smoke.
When Bruce showed, Bob shoved a bag of green Takis across the coffee table with the mountain dew he'd grabbed from the bodega across the street, the one that always smelled like old fryer oil and mothballs. "I thought you'd like them," he said, voice hitting that awkward upward note at the end like he was asking a question instead of offering a snack, "they're green, you know? And you're โ" he gestured vaguely at the whole of Bruce, brilliant, terrifying, everything Bob wasn't, "โ like, science. Green is science. That's a science color." He winced immediately, his face flushing all the way to the tips of his ears because that had sounded so much better in his head, where he'd practiced it three times in the mirror while the other guy rumbled something dark and amused in the back of his skull.ย
This is fine, he told himself,ย you're just offering a man a snack, you're not trying to convince the smartest person you've ever met that you're worth his time, you're just being normal, for once in your entire goddamn life
He didn't want to be terrifying. He wanted to be warm and not just because he ran hotter because of gamma. He smiled at the soda and the snacks and opened the bag. He popped a couple Takis in his mouth and sat down.
"I've always liked purple a little more. Green was an unexpected circumstance, but I do like plants. Trees. Camping when I'm not being chased by the U.S. Military."
No one said Bruce was world class funny. He didn't have to be. He just wanted Bob to relax a little. He recognized the look of someone terrified of messing up. He'd seen it on himself once upon a time. The difference was when he'd grown older he'd shifted it to anger and sarcasm and prided himself on assessing a situation for threats.
Here, he didn't know much but he hoped he could help Bob. He was glad he'd found people who cared enough to reach out on his behalf.
"You know, my first name's actually Robert." He shrugged. "I like my middle name more."
