that’s a strange kid
“i don’t get why thor chose me to be his partner for the art project. i’m not even that good at art.” bruce muttered, his face buried in his hands. “i-i mean, there were so many people to chose from. why was i his first pick?” tony sighed, patting his science bro on the back.
“it’s pretty obvious, dude.” bruce looked at tony, raising an eyebrow.
“what?”
“he’s into you, banner.” bruce’s face soon became red.
“w-what? i-i-into me? pfft, w-what? don’t be ridiculous, tony.” he replied. “oh god. why would he be into me? he’s a super strong jock. and i’m just a wimpy nerd.” tony shook his head.
“said every girl in practically every high school movie. then he asks her out to prom and suddenly, they’re married.” he replied.
“this isn’t the movies, tony! this is real life.” bruce whined.
“watch it happen, bruce. i bet you.” tony told him, taking a bite of his cheeseburger. “thanks to your rant, my burger’s gone cold.”
“whatever.” bruce played with his fries. “anyway, homecoming is soon-“
“it’s literally in 6 or 7 months, what do you mean it’s soon?”
“whatever, homecoming is on its way. have you thought about who you’re gonna bring?” tony paused, before shaking his head.
“nah, i’m not looking for anyone at the moment.” he looked at all the others in the cafeteria. no one really stood out for him. all the faces he saw were too familiar and not that interestin- wait? who was that? tony came across a boy in a navy blue sweater and jeans reading a book alone. he had dark chestnut hair with grey highlights on the side. “who’s he?” bruce looked in tony’s direction.
“he’s the new kid-“
“yes i know that! i don’t recognise him, so of course he’s the new kid. i mean what’s his na-“
“-his name is stephen strange.”
“oh.”
“it’s a weird name, i know.”
“some could say, it’s strange.” bruce groaned as tony laughed at his own joke.
“should we go talk to him? he looks lonely.” bruce asked.
“he looks like he’s having a dandy time by himself reading-” tony paused. he squinted, trying to find out what the boy was reading. “-eh, i dunno.”
“tony, he’s reading a sherlock book.” bruce told his friend, causing tony’s eyes to widen.
“come on, brucie, it’s time to make a new friend.”
stephen was causually sitting in the busy cafeteria, minding his own business and reading a couple of sherlock books. his peaceful atmosphere was interrupted by a brunette boy with a grey hoodie and jeans.
“hey, you’re the new kid, stephen, right? anyway, i see you’re reading a sherlock book.” stephen raised an eyebrow as he slowly closed the book, taking a moment to study his new encounter.
“you are not mistaken. can i just ask who exactly you are?” okay, that definitely wasn’t an american accent. soon, another boy appeared from behind the other one.
“sorry, tony just loves the sherlock series. so when he saw you reading one, he couldn’t resist coming up and talking to you. i’m bruce, by the way.” ‘bruce’ explained and stephen couldn’t help but smile at ‘tony’.
“i’m glad that there are more sherlock fans out there. i always thought i was the only one.” tony confessed, returning stephen’s smile.
“it’s really popular in britain.” stephen said.
“you’re from england? no wonder your accent sounded so...” bruce paused. “...uh, so...”
“cute.” tony was quick to reply. bruce looked at tony and then back at stephen to find that the latter had a blush painted on his face. “i mean, it’s weird. but in a good, cute way.”
“yeah, i get what you mean.” stephen replied. “so, do you prefer the movies or the show more?”
“there’s a sherlock tv series? i’ve only seen the films.”
“i haven’t seen the films. but the show is great. maybe, i could show you a couple of episodes.” stephen shrugged, trying to hide the fact that his heart fluttered slightly. god, it sounded so much like a date. but, of course, it wasn’t. “and then you can show me the films.”
“stephen strange, you have yourself a deal. your place or mine?”
“we can go to your room.”
“you wouldn’t mind, right bruce?” tony turned to his friend.
“but, i have to-“
“come on, buddy, please. the sherlock fandom must be united.” tony pleaded. bruce raised an eyebrow.
“fine. but please use protection.” he commented, causing tony to cough and stephen to blush again.
“right, okay. i’ll see you then.” stephen told tony. “uh, what’s your room number?”
“102.”
“102, right. okay, see ya.” stephen got up. “i need to go to book club.”
“book club?”
“i like books. bye.” stephen waved at the two, though it was mostly aimed at tony, before he left. tony watched him go in awe.
“tony, don’t tell me you’ve fallen for the new kid.” bruce said, smirking at his friend.
“no, of course not.” tony looked at the table. he gasped when he saw stephen’s book on the cafeteria table. “he left his book.” he grabbed it. “i’ll give it to him when he comes over.”
“i wasn’t joking when i said use protection, by the way.” bruce warned his friend, laughing when tony’s reply was a blush and an incoherent sentence.