((A/N: I rewatched the first couple of avengers films, got a brain worm, and this happened. Slow start, but the M will be there. Enjoy.))
Bruce sat down carefully on the white sofa inside the top floor of the Avengers tower. He'd expected to be met by Pepper, if not Tony himself, but instead he'd had to make smalltalk with another of Tony's AI. He'd been directed politely upstairs by the disembodied voice to await "Mr Stark's return". He made himself comfortable and looked around to take in the expensive décor. He wondered to himself, not for the first time since arriving, why he'd come here. Bruce had been faced with his fair share of mysteries when it came to work. Whether it was his own unique problem or any other extraordinary individual he'd become associated with, he'd always revelled in it. That's what gave him such a prevailing passion for science. He wasn't one to stand around and leave a question unanswered: He had an urge to discover, and even when he failed he found joy in the pursuit of knowledge. He would never curse himself for that. Yes, the experimentation he had done on himself in said pursuit had lead him down one notoriously destructive path but, he found even when it came to the other guy, he was growing more optimistic by the day. He had mastered the art of releasing and re-caging - … A detached sense of annoyance washed over his brain as he thought the word. Ok, perhaps 'transitioning' was a better word. Having mastered the art of transitioning, with the help of Natasha, the situation was altogether more manageable. Lately he found himself treating his monster alter-ego as less a problem and more a puzzle: One that he could spend his spare time on instead of avoiding. The prospect of working on, or even with him gave Bruce a brand-new outlook on a previously dark life. More than that, it would altogether remove the dread of losing control, so he wasn't about to give up the green guy's new found co-operation.
That said… As much as he despised the idea of squandering such progress, recent revelations had given him doubts about the future of their amicable partnership. As was almost always the case, his green friend's thoughts weren't entirely clear at first, so he was deducing from only clues so far, but it didn't look good. He had submitted to following this line of investigation, which had so far brought him to the couch of the former Stark Tower's waiting area, or so it seemed. When exactly he would be joined by the man himself was unclear. With that in mind, Bruce felt himself beginning to relax, enjoying some time 'alone'.
All too soon he was interrupted by the familiar sound of miniature jet engines. Banner peered over to the window to see metal boots floating down to meet the balcony. The hydraulics kicked in and began de-suiting the figure as it strolled toward the door.
Banner knew all his tricks: that he had to mind the placement of his feet or the robotic arms would quite seamlessly acquire a chunk of his leg, but Tony had a knack for making almost anything look effortless. As the millionaire's body was revealed Bruce was reminded that there was a motive for his visit. He tensed up resisting the urge to move forward, holding his ground against his inner self. There was something going on, and he needed to know what. It unnerved him not understanding the reasons behind this abnormal behaviour. As reasonable as it was to assume the smashing and aggression was the result of some brainless ogre, Banner had been able to figure out intentions or reasons behind all of the Hulk's actions so far. He'd discovered that his alter-ego could hold a grudge for example, when everyone previously thought he was a beast of instinct in the moment. And that he could get carried away with the adrenaline of a fight only to regret it like any other man. He'd seen that when he'd taken out Thor in the heat of battle, only to help him up moments later. All of this progress had been so reassuring, up until this hiccup had appeared.
Recently the big guy had been urging him toward Tony at every opportunity. Just a topic of conversation involving Tony, even the sight of the iron man suit seemed to awaken some restlessness in his other self. The trouble was Bruce couldn't identify the emotion. It was almost foreign to him. It wasn't rage, or anger. It certainly wasn't curiosity, they'd been working together too long for that. He briefly considered the idea that Hulk was interested in Tony's suit, after encountering 'Veronica', but as Stark descended the last step and nonchalantly entered the room Bruce could feel the other guy's eyes watching intently as the man made his way to the bar. His ears could hear the suit as it neatly folded away into sheets of iron and bolts, and was consumed by the hydraulics of the balcony, forgotten. So, what why were his eyes trained elsewhere?
"Hey Doc. Need something?" Tony offered.
"Kinda." Bruce tried to stay calm, if there was one thing that would scare Tony off it was neediness.
"Is it tech? I know Veronica didn't quite hold up last time, but in her defence the big guy cheated going up through the floor like that." Tony's face seemed genuinely defensive as if concerned for his child's reputation. "Don't worry though," He continued in a slightly more professional voice. "I've been working on a new version. You interested? Avengers discount." He said raising an eyebrow at Bruce. "Two percent." He pointed his whiskey tumbler at him in a proposal. Bruce just squinted at him. "No? Ok. I can take full price too, give the extra to the Stark fund for needy kids... That's what you do right, help needy kids cure their illnesses and scare off the school bully with smasher there?"
"I'm not here for tech, Tony." Now what. Why was he here… "I have… a proposition."
"First tell me what's in it for me, I have a self-absorbed reputation to uphold." He said swirling his drink.
"A bit of insight." Bruce offered cryptically. He needed to grab Tony's interest, and there was no better way to do that than to withhold information. The man was notorious for hating it.
There was a loaded pause.
"Into what exactly?" Tony stood at the bar, his eyes narrowed toward the sofa in an attempt to hide his curiosity, but the truth was he was hooked. Banner simply tapped his own forehead and gave Tony a knowing look. The other man returned the gaze for a moment before slowly making his way to the sofa to get comfortable. "Okay I'm listening."
"Well, y'see the big guy… he's been acting," What was the best word to use? "-weird, lately."
"Weird in ways other than being enormous and green you mean?"
"Exactly. I don't know what it is. I'm hoping you can help."
"Have you tried asking him?" The owner of the couch observed him as if reading a good novel. Jekyll and Hide, most likely.
"We're not exactly on speaking terms."
"Then how do you know?"
"I… I get these… echoes of emotions. I know they're not mine, and they vary in intensity, depending on how close to the surface he is."
Tony sat up a little straighter then, his eyes darting to some gadget on the wall. No doubt it would call forth some section of an iron suit, in case of emergencies.
"What tends to bring him to the surface?" Tony tried in his best nonchalant voice.
"It used to be anger. Anger clears your mind of almost anything, focusing your emotion. It causes a clearing for him to escape. I've learnt since then to stop that from happening. Even angry I know to clutter my brain…" He left the sentence hanging not sure how to explain the next part.
"But..?" Tony was as perceptive as ever.
"But… Recently something has been pushing him. I've felt his envy and his rage. I know when he gets curious, or when he's ashamed. This is something different. And it's something about you." Bruce furrowed his eyebrows at the other man, wondering how he would react to the news. It wasn't exactly reassuring to know you'd caught the interest of a volatile monster.
"Well…" Stark said taking a triumphant breath. "Most things are nowadays." The air Bruce has been holding in anticipation of his friend's response turned into an exasperated sigh. The billionaire took a sip of his drink looking out onto his balcony.
"This isn't a joke, okay? This is a legitimate concern."
"Okay." Tony said resolutely. "Deadly serious." He wiped the smirk of his face with a free hand. Bruce waited a moment for Tony to compose himself, obviously finding himself hilarious behind the act.
"I've been working on bonding with him… trying to figure him out. I don't wanna hit a brick wall here." The doctor ended his sentence by falling back onto the sofa feeling a little defeated. Of course it would be this hard to get the one and only Tony Stark to take time for someone other than himself.
Bruce sat for a moment before realising Tony wasn't moving. He peered over to find the other man studying him suspiciously. Bruce raised an eyebrow, waiting for the decision written all over the billionaire's face to be made. Tony let out a breath and nodded. He leaned over and handed Bruce his scotch, before leaving to the bar again.
"Did you hear anything I just said?"
"I hear you." Tony said innocently. "Bonding, figuring something out, yada yada." He sat back down and clinked their glasses together. "Cheers."
"You really think now is the best time to be drinking? When I just told you, the other guy is-" Bruce cut himself off seeing Tony's vaguely smug gaze… Or was that just how he usually looked..? "Oh… You think-"
"When you need to know more about a person, I find nothing works better than scotch. I don't know about him, and I get that you two have the whole Clark Kent never-in-the-same-room deal goin' on," Tony waved a hand dismissing the information. "-but, I figure your body is his body. And I know you're not immune to the good stuff." He raised his glass a little demonstrating which good stuff he meant, before taking a drink.
…
He had a point…
…
The room's automaticlighting had been triggered at some point, casting a hazy glow onto his surroundings. Tony shook the bottle again, only to realise it was empty. Which meant that his glass was empty. That wouldn't do.
He discarded it carefully next to the other empty bottle and took out a fresh one to pour himself another. A squinting Bruce turned to him from his place on the rug.
"Did we finish it yet?" He asked, not for the first time.
"Nope." Tony held up the almost full bottle. "Still goin'."
"Huh."
"How's the big guy doin?"
"I'm cool, I'm cool…"
"The other big guy."
"Oh. He's… He's mellow, I guess." Banner wiggled some fingers at him, demonstrating 'mellow'.
Tony had to give it to the Doc, the man could hold his scotch. Maybe having a tag team member in there did affect his drinking after all.
"Okay." Tony sat down next to Bruce, pausing to let his drunken vision settle. "We've come all this way and not made any breakthroughs." He started to count off topics on his hand. "We've talked about Stark Industries, the missiles, the money, Iron Man suits…" He lost track of which finger he was on so he started again. "The battle with Loki, Veronica, the arc reactor, the Iron Man suits…" Had he said that one already..? He put his hands down. "I thought we were gettin' somewhere with those fun stories about me and Widow but I'm pretty sure that was all you."
"You stay away from Natasha… She's a good girl." Tony just nodded confirming as much.
"Yuh-huh, sure." He felt his face tense up with the frustration. "I don't get it we've gone over everything about me, and we've not heard a peep-" he tapped Bruce's chest accusingly, "out of him."
"What if it's not about you? What if it's just you."
"Not makin' a whole lot'a sense there, Green Giant." He moved his hand and instead tapped his partner's forehead hoping it would open a door to what lay inside. "Is he asleep or something?"
"No… I can feel him there. He's…" Bruce rocked his head back and forth to help explain. "He's pushing."
"Pushing you to what?"
"I dunno…" He watched the doctor's face. Then an idea occurred to him, a lot later than it usually would have.
"Why don't you just do it. Let him do as he pleases. You said he was mellow, right?"
"Yeah I guess so."
"Worst happens, I call up veronica mark two from the basement." He said holding up his portable control panel. The tower could do with a little rearranging. After all the décor was already two weeks old and Tony wasn't used to things lasting that long since he'd gone into the business of superheroing.
That seemed to convince him. Banner shut his eyes and took a deep breath. In spite of what he said Tony braced himself expecting the Hulk to burst forth as unceremoniously as he had in the past. Instead though, he found his friend still sitting there on the floor, looking noticeably less conflicted than his usual self. His brow unfurrowed, and his free hand seemed to go limp, as if falling into a light sleep.
"Banner…" No reply came. Tony wanted to believe he was just sleeping, but he could tell something was there, and it was unnerving. In unnerving times Tony turned to his friend humour. "Brucey, Honey, time to wake up." This time his eyes opened, but they'd changed. Bruce's brown eyes had been tinted, becoming a deep hazel, something akin to a rainforest. The sight was something else entirely and caused Tony to lose his train of thought. It was the closest he'd ever come to seeing the two beings at once. Bruce still didn't speak, he sat for a moment his breathing heavy as if he had just dozed off. He blinked curiously, and looked down at his regular man sized hands. He flexed the fingers slowly, testing them, before looking back up with the same neutral expression.
"Uh… Bruce?" Tony tried again. The other man tilted his head slightly in some delayed recognition.
"Stark." He said in a low voice.
"Yep. The one and only." He found himself getting an unexpected rush from this seemingly mundane situation. He was used to fast cars and explosions, flying through the air at break neck speed and making it by a hair's width, but this was a different kind of edgy. The adrenaline it summoned was serving to clear some of the drowsiness from his drunken stupor, but he was left dazed enough to enjoy the strange phenomenon. "Is that… Is that you, big guy?" He tried hesitantly. One wrong move here and it could switch from bonding session to death trap in a second.
"Mm." Banner's head nodded with a simple grunt. Tony sat up straight, crossing his legs. He could see what the doctor meant. It was kind of fascinating. He could see his friend's face plain as day, but somehow feel the Hulk in his emotion and his mannerisms. He felt the familiar need to study and observe: provoke something to monitor the results.
"I have some questions for you." He said simply. He waited a moment, but all the other man did was hold his eye contact, so he took that as an agreement. "Okay. Do you hate me?"
A slightly confused shaking head and a dismissive mumble told him that was a 'no'.
"Do you need something from me?"
Forest eyes looked at the floor, then up again as he shrugged.
"Wait… you don't know?" Tony said a little more incredulously than he'd intended to.
That earned him a disgruntled exhale.
"Sorry! Sorry," He held his glass and free hand up slightly in a drunken surrender. "I guess that's natural." He narrowed his eyes at the strange creature in front of him. This human sized man with the aura of a monster. It seemed to be studying him back.
"What do you want, huh?"
As if in reply, the doctor sat up. He was so cautious and aware of his surroundings, presumably used to being 5 times bulkier, as he moved to sit next to him. He knelt down to face him, barely an inch of space between. Tony felt suddenly surrounded, realising that if something went wrong here there was no time to get veronica between them, so when he felt a hand move to rest on his leg he flinched, seeing green. But instead he looked up to see a strange look in the beast's eyes. What was this?
"You… You wanna be buddies..?" It sounded ridiculous, but he had to admit he was flattered. Then the hand continued. He sat confused as hands curiously outlined him, slowly running over his knee, his sides, over his neck and his biceps, as if being discovered for the first time. He had to focus as he felt a wave of drowsy satisfaction seep into his mind. Finally a hand came up… Tony instinctively winced back slightly, but it continued to touch his cheek. It was unexpectedly personal, and gentle: each finger tip shifting carefully. Still, he tensed up at the sudden intimacy of it as a thumb ran over his bottom lip. He would have protested somehow but wasn't really in a position to speak, so he just sat there wondering what the caged beast was trying to achieve.
When the hand finally slipped from his face he took a breath to speak but he was interrupted as the other man put a firm hand over the orb that glowed through his shirt. His back was planted slowly but firmly on the floor, what was left of his drink spilling onto the rug somewhere along the line. Tony might have cared about that part in another setting, but everything involved was replaceable, and besides that there was something much more fascinating occurring in front of him. He realised that his heart was thumping a little louder than usual. He swallowed instinctively, feeling a little claustrophobic. He could feel the heat radiating from the Doctor's body: the leg by his leg, the hand pressed against his chest and the other on the floor by his head. The doctor's breathing had started to sound laboured as his head fell slightly. There was some sort of struggle going on… A reason occurred to him, but he chalked it up to an oversized ego, because it was too ridiculous to think never mind say aloud.
But then he felt the other man's head move down to his collar and turn slightly. Then came the sound of an inhale as the other man took in a deep breath. Tony started to regain awareness of where he was, the strength with which he was being pinned, and the position they were in. The two of them, alone, nestled into the plush rug barely a pencil's width between them. But more than that, he was painfully aware of his own heartbeat. It had ramped up with the acknowledgement of what was happening. He felt suddenly vulnerable that this was forcing a reaction out of him, and he couldn't figure out how to stop it.
He left the glass lying on the floor and made better use of his arms to hold the other guy's shoulders in an attempt to keep him at bay. As much as he wasn't keen to be crushed under half a ton of green muscle, he was still only dealing with the body of Bruce Banner, so really how strong could he be?
"Hey, about this, I really am flattered, and you've probably heard this a thousand-" He was cut short by a familiar jingle from the other side of the rug. Saved by the bell. He felt some of the tension leaving him. "Would you mind getting that?"
He watched as the doctor reached over and took his phone in hand. The beast looked at it and without a word, made a fist. Tony watched his cellphone turn to fragments of glass and plastic as it fell to the floor.
"That… solves that problem I guess." Tony swiftly withdrew his resistance. Apparently, there was more hulk in front of him than he'd realised.
((A/N: ... I know you're not gonna read this part of the Author's notes, but hey consider all the things you could leave in the review section... Aaaaand to the next chapter you go.))