thor, bruce, & tutoring

II: wingmen, favors, & movies

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"Don't worry, I've been thinking 'bout you too. What do we do?"

(Emoji of a Wave by John Mayer)

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A familiar laugh erupted from the back of the classroom, and Bruce had to will himself not to turn around and seem like some kind of stalker, because no matter what Tony said, he was not a stalker.

Even though he really wanted to watch Thor's face light up as his smile spread across his face and his eyes crinkled at the corners and his nose scrunched up really cutely.

God, he thought, I am so screwed.

"What're ya thinkin' about, Brucie?" Tony asked slyly, bumping his shoulder with Bruce's. The latter blushed immediately, earning laughs from the former.

"Shut up," he muttered.

"Aw, you know I'm on your side. I'll be your wingman!" Tony grinned and winked. Bruce couldn't help but smile back.

"Thanks, but I'd rather you not. He probably doesn't even remember my name, so that would be really embarrassing."

"How can he not know your name? You guys were partners on the last bio project for a whole week. He has to be in love with you by now."

"I bet he forgot it as soon as it was over."

"Oh, shut your face. You're always so down on yourself. Try thinking positively! Or at least neutrally."

"It's not that easy, and you know that. I'll just start spiraling."

"Maybe take deep breaths?"

Bruce looked Tony right in the eyes and sighed deeply. "Better?"

"I guess. But you know you're not off the hook just yet."

"I'm not sure I know what you mean," Bruce said, trying to act dumb as he tried to avoid the other's gaze. Tony raised his eyebrow, not fooled one bit.

"We are going to discuss how to make Thor fall in love with you-" the bell interrupted, then Tony continued, "after class."

"Fine," Bruce sighed. Once Tony made up his mind, there was no stopping him. A decade of friendship had taught him that much.

Class started, and when Bruce leaned down to get his notebook out of his bag, he glanced behind him. Thor was watching him, and when they made eye contact, the blond's eyes went wide, and he quickly looked away.

In love. As if. Tony's out of his mind.

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When the bell rang, signaling the end of the day, Bruce and Tony were the first ones out the door. They usually headed over to Tony's place about every day for study sessions (in which they studied for five minutes and just played games or watched tv until late at night). However, as they walked through the halls towards the back parking lot, Tony insisted that they brainstorm ways to make Thor and Bruce talk more (while eating ice cream, of course). Bruce loved the guy, he was his best friend, but he really wasn't looking forward to talking about his love life for the night.

Tony's rambling about something or other (Bruce wasn't paying attention) was interrupted by someone shouting, "Banner!"

Bruce turned around and, to his surprise, Thor was the one that had called his name. When they made eye contact, the blond smiled and made his way to where Bruce and Tony had stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"Hi," he greeted in his English accent.

Huh, Bruce thought distractedly. His accent isn't as strong.

"What's up, Point Break?" Tony asked, snapping Bruce out of his thoughts as he sung his arm around Bruce's shoulders, leaning against him casually. Bruce could see a hint of a smirk on his friend's face.

"I wanted to ask Bruce a favor."

"What is it?" Bruce questioned. He hoped it wasn't anything embarrassing.

"So you know those couple of weeks that I was, um, out?" Thor asked, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. Of course he knew. Everyone knew. He had put Thanos, the super strong, beefy senior that everyone hated, in the damn hospital.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I've mostly caught up on the work and stuff I missed but I'm still behind in bio and I have no idea what we did and so I was wondering if you could tutor me? You don't have to if you don't want I was just wondering-"

"He'll do it," Tony interjected, stopping Thor's ramble. The blond's shoulders sagged with relief, but Bruce looked at Tony with wide eyes and a slightly scared expression.

"Great! I have to get to basketball practice, so do you want to just text about the times and such later?"

"Oh, sure, yeah," Bruce replied over-enthusiastically, pulling out his phone. The two exchanged contact information, and then the blond was racing down the almost-empty hallway towards the gym.

A little ways down, he turned around and waved at where Bruce and Tony were still standing, the huge grin on his face causing the other two to smile back.

And then he was gone.

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Later that evening, Bruce and Tony were arguing over movies to watch as they ate their ice cream (Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream for Tony and mint chocolate chip gelato for Bruce).

"Let's watch Star Wars."

"Again, Tony? We had a Star Wars marathon just last weekend."

"But they're so good! And the most iconic movies of all time."

"The Martian is so much better though."

"How can you even compare that movie to the highest grossing movie series in the history of the world?" Tony gasped, offended.

"Because you said we were gonna celebrate me 'finally getting it on with the school's hunk,' remember?" Bruce shot back, throwing what Tony had said earlier back in his face.

"Ugh. I regret saying that."

"I know," Bruce smiled angelically. "Hand over the remote."

"But the Martian?" Tony whined, reluctantly handing over said tv remote.

"It's my favorite movie, so stop whining, you big baby."

They had both settled down, their ice cream containers in their laps and Tony's softest blanket stretched out across them both with the movie beginning to play, when Bruce's phone dinged.

The two looked at each other, one with excitement, the other with surprise.

thor :)
hey Bruce !

In the original work, Bruce and Thor had been paired up as partners on a project, which is how they started liking each other. I thought it would be a nice to start their crushes in this fic the same way, but I couldn't figure out a way to incorporate it in, so take this background info for now I guess? I'll try to add some flashbacks or memories or smth in the future if I can find a way to write it in smoothly. If not, I'll just make it a bonus chapter or smth.