A/N: I wrote this about a year and a half ago, so highly AU to AoU, highly based off of random scenes from obscure comic books, though it's still largely canon consistent to anything prior to AoU. Except for this first one... and a few others down the line. So, only minor spoilers for AoU and only things that you could easily figure out from watching the trailers. I wrote this largely as an exercise in non-sequential writing, so nothing's in a strict chronological order, just the order that I thought made the most dramatic sense.
With that out of the way...
~~First Short~~
"You know," said Tony Stark, sidling over to Dr. Banner, "I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart."
He stopped for a moment and tapped the protruding metal beneath his shirt, "This stops it. This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just armor. It's a... terrible privilege."
He gave a little smile. As modestly inspiring speeches went, it hadn't been that bad, he thought.
Banner raised an eyebrow incredulously, "I... don't suppose you've ever had to go on the run to keep the government from getting their hands on that thing, have you?"
Somewhat taken aback, Stark fumbled, "Well, not as such..."
"And you've never had to worry about it going critical and possibly killing everyone around you? Or at the very least, causing a hefty chunk of property damage?"
"Of course not! I was directly involved in-"
"And you're still a multi-billionaire, right?"
"Yes, but-"
Banner interrupted him again, "I... uh, think we should stop swapping sob stories now. If it's all the same to you."
Well, thought Stark, as he wandered back over to his corner of the lab, that had not gone as well as he'd hoped.