𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚛 {Bruce Banner}

Stephen

"You know us future doctors," she comments. "We're never on time."

Stephen mimics her eye roll, tapping his notepad twice. "Get to work, Tesla. I want to close early tonight."

"Got some plans with a neurology textbook?" she jokes, making her way over to the back door to the kitchen and the break room.

"Actually, I have plans with a future FT graduate."

Tesla makes a face and pushes her way through the door to the kitchen. She says hello to the cook, Jones, lovingly nicknamed Frypan for his love to deep fry just about everything. Tesla drops her bag of schoolwork in her locker and grabs her apron from the hook. She places her nametag on the string. Tying her apron around her waist, Tesla brushes her ruthless hair out of her face, only to have it fall back again. Tesla sighs and punches in the time. She grabs a pad and pen, then meets Stephen behind the small bar in the corner of the diner.

Stephen gestures to the right side of the restaurant. "You got zone three and four tonight."

"You on bar duty?" she wonders, scanning the area.

Stephen shakes his head. "Both of us; it's too busy for one of us to be at the bar."

Tesla nods. "All right." She holds out her first to Stephen. "Shall we?"

Stephen fist bumps her. "It's the endgame."

Tesla laughs a little, teasing him. "So dramatic, so strange."

Stephen shoots her a look. "Haven't heard that one before. Go wait on your customer, he's been here for thirty minutes."

"Stat!" Tesla giggles, tapping her pen on her notepad twice. Stephen rolls his eyes again, hiding his amusement very well. Tesla can see it in his eyes, though.

She walks over to the booth by the window. Tesla can't see the customer's face; he's too concentrated on what's going on outside—people watching. The young girl smooths her apron subconsciously. She always feels comfortable around smaller groups of people she knows, but when it comes time to speak to strangers, Tesla finds her difficulties trying to break through and interrupt her tasks. All she has to do is quickly ask—politely as possible—what she can do to make the customer's experience as wonderful as possible. Tesla taps her foot on the ground for a moment and clears her throat, putting a smile on her face.

"How can I," the man turns to face Tesla and her voice trails off, "help you..."

"Hey," Bruce smiles tentatively.

Tesla feels her panic fade into anxiousness. She doesn't know how she feels about waiting on Bruce for her first ever solo shift. "H-hi...hey..." Tesla stammers, closing her mouth.

Bruce raises an eyebrow at her. Tesla clears her throat again, tapping her pen on her thigh, trying to calm herself down. She's totally beating herself up about this. Of course she'd seen other classmates in the diner before, but Tesla wasn't bothered by it. Why, all of a sudden, is this so much more nerve-wracking?

Tesla gives Bruce a sheepish look.

"I didn't know you work here?" he asks.

Tesla looks away for a moment, hiding a blush. "I started last week..." Tesla shifts, not sure what to say next. "You ready to order?"

"Can I get a coffee?" he says, smiling up at her shyly.

Tesla taps her notepad in confirmation. "Coming right up."

At eight, nearing nine, Tesla wipes down a table in her section and grabs the last of the dirty dishes scattered about. Tesla puts them in the large sink, where Frypan is already working on cleaning the pile of dishes from the relatively slow evening. The kitchen was already spotless and it would be closed in twenty-seven minutes.

"Last call, Tesla. Want some grub?"

Tesla pauses, wiping her hands on her apron. She sighs, "I'll take a burger, then. My break is soon, anyway."

Frypan smiles, "Medium rare?"

"'Course."

"Pickles, lettuce, tomato?"

"All of it, Frypan, all of it."

"Side?"

"French fries, duh," she laughs.

Tesla hurries out of the kitchen and stands next to Stephen behind the bar. Stephen gestures to Bruce sitting in the booth, writing in a beaten notebook. His coffee cup is almost empty. "He isn't bothering you, is he?"

Tesla shakes her head with a little smile. "No." Tesla reaches for the coffee pot. "He's in a study group with me. We're, uh, we're friends."

Stephen raises an eyebrow at her, noticing her shift in demeanor. "You, Doctor Edison, friends with someone?"

Tesla rolls her eyes and ignores him. "I'll finish up with him and take my break. You eating tonight?"

Shaking his head, he says, "I have a date, remember?"

Tesla smiles again. "You, Doctor Strange, going on a date with someone?" She sticks her tongue out at Stephen, then leaves the bar with the coffee. She taps Bruce on the shoulder. Bruce looks up at her and the tired look in his eyes vanishes. "More coffee?"

Bruce pauses, glancing at the watch on his wrist. "I shouldn't. You close at nine, right?"

"The kitchen does." Tesla shrugs. "How much homework do you have?"

"Two textbooks to go."

"That means at least two more cups of coffee." Tesla shakes the pot. "This is definitely two more cups."

Bruce nods his head toward Stephen, who is cleaning the last table. "I don't want your boss to get mad at me for keeping you here."

Tesla shakes her head and laughs. "Stephen's not my boss. He likes to think he is. No, he's just got a big complex," she calls out a little louder so Stephen will hear.

"Fries on," Frypan says, setting Tesla's order down on the table.

"Oh." She thanks him quickly, then awkwardly points to the seat across from Bruce. "You don't mind if I—"

"Not at all." Bruce smiles. "Sit."

Tesla sits down and offers Bruce a fry. He declines silently. "What, you don't like fries?" she questions, eating said fry he declined.

"I do, but not with coffee." Bruce offers her some coffee from the pot. Tesla shakes her head, preparing herself to dig into the large burger in front of her. "What, you don't like coffee?"

"What, you don't like coffee?"

Tesla pauses. "No, not really. It makes me feel...weird."

"Weird?"

"It's a long story," she states, taking a bite. She closes her eyes at the taste and Bruce hides his smile behind his coffee cup.

_ _ _

I know I haven't updated in forever. Been super busy lately, as I'm sure all of us have. This is just a revamp of the chapter. Hopefully I can finish revamping everything soon and get back to posting new chapters.
Enjoy!

— Kate