(Found this in my really old stuff but I like it so here it is. Just a little something random while I work on more White Collar fics)
Tony had always had problems with authority, that much everyone knew. How could they not? A glance at his teenage life would leave you appalled.
Now, though, he's got a better rein on it and though he'll still smart-mouth whoever is giving the orders, he will obey those orders.
But Bruce knew there was something bigger at hand here because there was something about the way Tony fought against anyone telling him what to do. It didn't seem… reasonable. He'd backtalk against the littlest things that didn't even matter, turning them into a slightly bigger problem without seeming to realize it.
So Bruce watched him for a while, matched up the behavior to something that suddenly made perfect sense.
"Tony, do you have ODD?" he asked out of the blue when they were working in the lab together.
Tony just shot him a confused look. "Have what?"
"ODD," Bruce repeated. "Oppositional—"
"Yeah, I know what if is, but what makes you think I have it?" Tony questioned, getting defensive because, well, why wouldn't he? Bruce was certain he showed all the signs.
"Well, I've noticed how you act and I just thought it made the most sense. It's not a bad thing," he added quickly, "Lots of people have it."
"It's just a made up condition used to describe difficult people because no one wants to admit that it's perfectly normal," Tony snorted, "It's even got 'Disorder' in the name. You think that makes people feel normal?"
Bruce shrugged. "It's a perfectly normal behavior trait, if that's a better way to put it. Never mind, I was just curious."
It wasn't brought up again, but Bruce noticed a new bottle of pills in the cabinet one day when he went for some Advil. At first, he was confused because this was obviously Tony attempting to fix his 'problem'. But ODD wasn't treatable by drugs, as far as he knew.
He decided to just be upfront and ask. But not Tony, seeing how that would go.
"JARVIS, what's this for?"
"Mr Stark asked me to get it for him," came the expected vague answer.
"For what?"
"He didn't say," JARVIS replied, "Although I'm sure you can guess."
"But ODD isn't solved with meds," Bruce protested, knowing for a fact that Tony should know that. He knew he did.
"Oppositional Defiant Disorder can be affected by medication if another disorder is present, such as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder."
And there it was. Bruce hadn't really thought about that one, but now it was obvious. ADHD and ODD.
"OK, thank you, JARVIS," he said, placing the bottle back in its spot. Typical Tony. Thinking he had to fix everything people pointed out that he considered wrong. Still, not another word was spoken about it, although Bruce swore Tony was just being difficult on purpose now and enjoying every bit of it.
Typical Tony.