James Stark sighed in relief when he stepped out of the cab infront of Stark Tower. The cab was smaller than any other one he had been in yet. He stood in front of the building for a while, gathering his courage before taking a deep breath and stepping into the lobby where he was met by a cool wave of machine engineered coldness most frequently refered to as, air-conditioning. seeing that no one was really paying attention to him, he walked towards the elevator, they let him through seeing as he was their boss' son.
he heard voices coming from the floor that he had just entered, it sounded as if his father was talking about him.
"-and here he comes now!" Tony announced when the doors on the elevator opened up revealing James' melancholy face.
"Hello," greeted James, always keeping it short and simple for the lesser minded people that he thought inhabited the room he had just set foot in.
"Still sporting those long ass locks I see," his father commented, obviously trying to start a conversation.
"Correct," replied James looking at his hair from the corner of his eye. the other Avengers had made excuses about how they had to leave.
"Come on kiddo, whats up?" Tony asked, only succeeding in depressing him further because of the reason why he was like this way.
"Alex. fucking. Novak," he replied gritting his teeth before heading to his usual room, he didn't normally swear but this was different.
when he opened door that was his room he was mildly shocked to find that it was now in fact, a lab of scientific purposes. in a corner desk there was a man sort of half standing half sitting, looking at some sort of specimen on a tray. He looked up startled, obviously. he straightened up immediately, his glasses falling askew. the desk man fixed them before heading over to greet the moose of a man in the doorway of his lab.
"Hi, you must be James. i'm Bruce," he offered his hand for James to shake in a friendly manner. James politely shook the mans hand with a small smile, barely noticable.
"I just came to this room because it was previously mine. I havent the faintest idea of where my father would have moved it," James told Bruce quietly.
"Ah yes, he told me to show you to your room actually, I just got kind of sidetracked," Bruce admitted sheepishly.
"That is alright, everyone makes mistakes," James assured him, already feeling comfortable around the man that now inhabited his old bedroom.
the walk to James' new room was eventful, he and Bruce talked about everything under the sun, and things that aren't, in fact, under the sun so to say. although seeing as James was quite a bit taller than Bruce, it was never really that awkward.
"So, why did you come to visit your father after all this time?" Bruce finally asked the dreaded question and the air immediately went tense.
"My mother does not approve of me." James answered, not exactly telling the whole truth, before stepping into his room and inviting Bruce.
"How so?" Bruce asked him, sitting down on one of the chairs in the main area of the room that was really just a small house.
"I am...homosexual...and she does not like that so I came here." James replied, his wording unsure for once in his life.
"I have a strong feeling that you're not telling the whole truth" Bruce said, with a knowing look.
"Yes, you are right. I am not. My partner- I recently found him cheating on me with a good friend of mine by the name of Alex Novak. My partners name was Luke Williams." James informed him, looking down.
"Oh, I, i'm sorry man, I didn't know," Bruce apologised with pity filled eyes.
"It is fine now, Alex has a sister, Luci, that has been helping me get through it but I just needed some time away from him." James waved it off.
"So, your father said that you lived in Kansas, where exactly? if you don't mind me asking..." Bruce asked him, and James noticed that he was turning a very light shade of green.
"No...not at all" James said slowly, "I lived in Lawrence..." He told him and then silently cursed, he shouldn't of done that and he knew it. "Bruce are you okay?" he asked and then remembered that his father always bragged about being best friends with......the man who held the Hulk....
"I should go" Bruce said and before James could reply, raced out the door leaving James confused. No one saw doctor Banner for the rest of the day and James fell asleep with a heavy heart, 'Why do I always mess up with possible friends' was the one line going through his head for the rest of the day.
