High Dive
Steve hunched over his desk, desperate to make himself even smaller than he already was. He had known there was something amiss with how Bucky had been treating him in recent months, but even now that it was out in the open it crushed the thirteen year old even more. Christmas break had come and gone, and so had the argument which finally tipped the friendship over the edge. Steve didn’t want anyone to notice him, not that they did. People only talked to him because they wanted to get to Bucky, but, now that they were no longer friends, Steve figured he didn’t have to deal with that anymore. It sucked realising his classmates only entertained him to talk to someone else. Truth be told he was only making himself smaller so Bucky wouldn’t see how upset he was. That Christmas break had been horrible. Just him and his mum as it normally was, but it wasn’t Christmas. Sarah had noticed something instantly wrong with how Steve was acting. He barely left his room, barely ate, slept most of the day. She barely slept out of worry for her son. His on and off sobbing prompted asthma attacks–which lead to a stomach ulcer from the amount he had to use his inhaler. But still, Steve insisted on going back to school once the holidays were over, hoping the routine would take his mind off his lost friend.
“Is anyone sitting here?” An unfamiliar voice asked, pulling Steve out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Bruce Banner, a boy he knew of from hearing his name called out in register, but their acquaintance had never reached far beyond that.
“Yeah, sure,” Steve said awkwardly, suddenly feeling nervous that his cheeks were still blotched scarlet. “Go ahead.”
There was an unsettled silence between the two boys as they stared at the whiteboard of the classroom, neither of them registering a word the teacher spoke.
“Umm,” Steve watched Bruce twiddle his thumbs as he spoke, “so you’re friends with that James kid, right?”
Despite the mention being miniscule, Steve could feel a small lump in his throat beginning to form when he heard Bucky’s name. No matter how much he wanted to resent Bruce for only being able to make conversation with Steve by mentioning Bucky, he was too tired to say anything but, “Yeah.” Bruce nodded his head quickly as he began to pretend to take notes.
“I was friends with him,” Steve continued, deciding to take advantage in someone bothering to talk to him. “He likes billionaire boy now.” He didn’t even seem shocked when he found himself spitting out the name referencing Tony Stark.
“Stark? Man, I hate that kid.”
Steve sensed Bruce’s relaxed tone as he put down his pen. At that, they both turned around to find Bucky and Tony sitting together at the back of the classroom, the pair of them laughing and joking. Steve could see the scowl that had formed on Bruce’s face, but he knew that it would be a long time before he would understand what went through Steve’s mind when he looked at Bucky.
Steve looked at Bruce then, a determined look on his face, “Same.”
“Thanks for inviting me over.” Steve said, as he and Bruce reached the corner of Bruce’s road.
“Thanks for being my science partner.” Bruce grinned, “I have so many ideas for our project. It’s going to be great!”
Steve smiled as his friend went off in detail about all his plans, agreeing with him when Bruce said it would be killer if Steve could do, like, drawings of the experiments and make the graph look all professional. Steve suggested making the write up look like a comic book and Bruce’s ecstatic reaction reaffirmed Steve’s happiness of finding a friendship with him. It was crazy how they’d been in the same form group for three years and yet they hadn’t even talked to each other. Maybe I wouldn’t have wasted so much time following Bucky about if I had befriended Bruce earlier, Steve found himself thinking as Bruce opened the door to his home. He knew it would be long time before Steve would stop missing Bucky, but being friends with Bruce was different, a good different. He didn’t seem to crave attention from other people as much as Bucky had and Steve found himself enjoying having someone to actually do productive school work with.
“So what do your parents do?” Steve asked in an effort to get to know Bruce better. They were both in Bruce’s room now, Bruce sitting on the desk chair whilst Steve sat on the bed. Steve decided not to mention the strange emptiness of the house.
“My dad’s a research scientist,” Steve could see Bruce’s eyes light up in admiration, “and my mum’s a maths teacher.”
“That’s so cool! But I guess that means you don’t see your dad that much?” Steve said with a questioning tone, only vaguely knowing what being a research scientist entailed.
“Umm, well,” Bruce’s eyes shifted down for a moment, “I only see my dad every other weekend anyways.”
Steve knew exactly what Bruce meant, feeling somewhat relieved to find someone else with separated parents. “I don’t think I’ve even met my dad.”
Bruce’s head shot up a little after Steve spoke, then smiled on one side of his mouth.
“My mum’s a nurse.” Steve beamed, proud of how hard his mum worked to help people and provide for him.
“I hate Tony Stark.” Bruce said, slamming his bag onto his and Steve’s lunch table, “He’s ruining my tech project. My bloody teacher won’t do a thing about it because she gets some twisted kick out of billionaire boy flirting with her!”
“One: that’s gross. Two: that’s really, really gross. What the hell.” Steve commented, tucking into his sandwich, “Plus Stark’ll flirt with anything with a pulse.”
Bruce laughed, “True. I suppose the only upside to having him as my partner is that he pays for all the materials. That and the fact he’s heir to Stark Industries so, hey, I guess he knows his way around soldering iron. It’s his arrogance and lack of integrity I can’t stand.”
Steve shook his head, “You’ll be fine, Bruce. It’ll only be a couple weeks at most and you’re bound to ace the assignment anyway.”
“Oh, I know that.” Bruce uttered, taking out his pack-lunch, “That is if I don’t maim Tony in the process.”
“I’ll switch you my Müller Corner for that muffin? Also come round mine and play Smash Bros after school. It’ll take your mind off it.”
Bruce switched the lunch items, “Sounds like a plan, dude.”
“Okay, you have to be using mods to deal that much damage with one shot!” Steve complained, watching his character on Smash Bros fall to its death for the fourth time.
“Steve just accept it,” Bruce said smugly, pausing the game, “I was just born being this good.”
Steve playfully nudged his friend, throwing a pillow at his face. When the pillow hit him, Bruce fell dramatically to the ground, sticking his tongue out to the side.
“Man down.” He croaked.
Steve started poking a limp Bruce on the floor with his leg, stifling a laugh when he watched his friend pretend to jerk. Just as Steve turned his back, he heard a distinctive voice yell, Sneak attack! Steve immediately flopped onto the bed, the mattress bouncing once Steve was laying down.
“Remember me...” Steve whispered, his tone mixed with giggles, before spluttering about on the mattress. The two boys laid on the floor and bed for a moment, not saying a word. Steve decided this would be as good of a time as any. “Bruce,” he began, his eyes fixed on the solar system painted on the ceiling, “there’s been something I kind of want to tell you.”
“Sure, bro.” Bruce’s calm tone eased Steve a little, making it easier to get out what he wanted to say.
“I’ve kind of known this for a while, but I wanted to know for sure before I told anyone else.” He took a deep breath. “The thing is… I’m gay.”
There was a small silence before Bruce replied and all Steve could think about was how Bucky reacted when he told him.
“Okay, don’t be mad, but I kind of already know.” Bruce said sheepishly. “Well, I didn’t know, but I had a pretty good idea about it.” The lack of response from Steve made Bruce want to carry on. “It’s okay, you know,” he reassured, “I’m just happy that you feel comfortable enough now to tell me.”
Steve smiled, slightly, “Thanks Bruce.”