Title: After the War

Characters/Pairings: Bruce Banner / Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Nick Fury, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Thor and others.

Summary: In the aftermath of the attack on New York, Tony finds himself with an unexpected house guest.

Warnings: MxM pairing, angst, violence, swearing, smut.

Rating: M

Chapter 1

Tony wasn't sure how he'd come to find a nervous fellow scientist with tufty dark hair and misshapen spectacles living under the roof of his Malibu mansion; Banner ate his food, criticised his drinking and sleeping habits and complained about taste in music; in fact most would say he was the worst kind of housemate to live with especially with the constant threat that "The Other Guy" would come out to play, most probably resulting in the destruction of whatever room, or more likely floor, of the building he currently occupied.

Yes, most people would consider Bruce Banner a pain to live with but Tony Stark wasn't like most people; in fact he found that he'd grown rather attached to Bruce's constant presence despite the mumbling under his breath whilst he worked, the tuneless whistling and the nervous behaviour which hadn't relented even three months after Bruce had "accidentally" moved in.

The mansion felt more homely with Bruce there, and it was good for Tony to have a real person to talk to now that he and Pepper had split up; JARVIS, as near lifelike as he sometimes seemed just didn't quite count.

After the battle against Loki and the Chitauri which almost levelled New York, Tony had invited Bruce to tour Stark Tower keen to explore that massive brain of his – it wasn't often he came across someone who could rival his own intellect. Knowing, unlike the other Avengers, the scientist had nowhere to go (aside from back to Calcutta or wherever the hell Romanoff had found him), Tony invited him to stay with him in Malibu for a few days… just until he found his feet again of course.

Inviting Bruce to stay had absolutely nothing to do with his own fear of the scientist not being close by – no certainly not Tony told himself. However Tony couldn't deny that ever since his little jaunt through the worm hole, ever since "The Other Guy" had caught him as he plummeted toward certain death, saving his life, Tony only felt truly safe when Bruce was close. Why "The Other Guy" had saved him he wasn't sure but ever since Tony hadn't feared him; yes, "The Other Guy" was volatile and unpredictable but after New York he seemed to understand the concept of being part of the Avengers Team. Tony just wished Bruce also didn't fear him as much – the guy might be fun if he allowed himself to relax just a little!

Bruce living with him definitely wasn't going to become a permanent situation, at least that's what Tony told himself at the time he showed Bruce to the guest bedroom of the Malibu Mansion … that was over three months ago now.

'Tony?' Bruce asked breaking his train of thought, 'Wow I didn't think Chinese food warranted so much deliberation.' Bruce said with a small smile.

Tony's eyes snapped up from the coffee table and darted over Bruce's fingers which clutched at a menu tightly; why was Bruce so on edge all of the time? There was no threat here, no reason for "The Other Guy" to surface so why couldn't he relax? It must be tiring to be so on edge, to constantly be fighting for control over the beast within him which seemed always so desperate to escape.

'Tony?' Bruce asked again, when the billionaire didn't reply for a second time. 'What is it?' he asked. 'Is it about your business meeting tomorrow? Pepper will be there right?'

Tony just grunted; he stood up and stretched. 'Duck." he said with a loud yawn. Bruce just frowned. 'I'll have duck.' Tony said jabbing his finger toward the menu as he passed Bruce and headed for the direction of his workshop. 'JARVIS tell me when the food arrives.' he called for Bruce's benefit – pointedly making sure he knew the subject of Pepper Potts was not one he wanted raising again.

As Tony descended the stairs down to his workshop he glanced through the glass wall and saw Bruce flop down onto the leather couch and sigh with exasperation. Tony paused on the stairs; he knew that Bruce was just trying to get him to open up regarding his break up with Pepper but really there was nothing for him to say – she couldn't handle his life as Iron Man, his life as part of The Avengers, where from time to time yes there was a risk of him losing his life. Pepper ended it, although stayed on as CEO of Stark Industries; when they met, which was rare these days, as Tony was busy saving the world and Pepper was busy running the company, she was nothing but professional which felt like a kick in the face to Tony who needed a few stiff drinks before he felt he could face her.

Tony decided against talking to Bruce and finished his walk down the stairs to his workshop. Pepper was probably the only subject on he hadn't touched on with Bruce, despite the scientist's attempts to broach the subject. They'd talked about everything else, their lives, Bruce's accident, the battle in New York and their very different childhoods – often these conversation would go in into the early hours and often Tony got very drunk in the process but even when intoxicated he still refused to talk about Pepper.

Before the food had even had a chance to get through the door, Tony was already on his third whisky and was ignoring Bruce's disapproving looks. 'What?' he finally snapped between a mouthfuls of noodles.

'You shouldn't drink so much.' Bruce commented calmly. 'What if we got the call to assemble? Could you really fly that suit of yours when you can barely walk?' he asked.

Tony scoffed as he devoured more noodles, and then just to prove a point he set down his container of Chinese food and headed to the bar to fix himself another drink; Tony wanted to tell Bruce he was just like Pepper, nagging about his drinking, but of course that meant bringing up the very subject the two of them were at logger heads over. 'I could fly that suit blind.' he boasted.

'You mean JARVIS could.' Bruce replied looking at the television rather than Tony who had returned to the armchair and his food.

'I invented JARVIS, I programmed him so technically it's still me doing the flying.' Tony retorted,

Bruce couldn't help but smile at this. 'You've got an answer of everything haven't you?'

Tony just smirked and knocked back the rest of his drink; he didn't both to reply, as bad a mood as he was in, he wasn't stupid enough to keep pushing Bruce's buttons. The latest version of his Iron Man suit was as Hulk proof as he could get it without compromising on other areas such as power and speed but he didn't want to test exactly how "Hulk Proof" it was … not tonight anyway.

Hours and two God awful films later, Bruce cleared away the cold remains of the Chinese and returned to the living room to look at Tony who lay half asleep drunkenly in the armchair – most of the expensive whisky he'd apparently been saving for a special occasion had disappeared along with several bottles of other hard liquor. Bruce had never seen a man drink so much in one sitting and it worried him deeply – what happened in New York had affected Tony, far more than he let on; Bruce knew this and one of the reasons he was determined to stay with Tony, despite the way the billionaire treated him sometimes, was because he wanted to help him. Tony was not only his team mate but he was his friend and despite his luxurious lifestyle and playboy image Bruce wasn't sure Tony had many friends at all.

'I'm going to bed.' Bruce told Tony. 'Are you staying up?'

'What's it to you?' Tony grumbled, scrabbling around for the bottle of whisky that had long since fallen onto its side and rolled away from the side of the armchair. 'You're not my wife you know?'

Bruce smiled calmly, biting back a response. 'Goodnight Tony.' he said turning to leave the room knowing he needed to get away before "The Other Guy" decide to express his opinion. However, Bruce stopped against his better judgement and turned to look at Tony once again. 'You'll eventually have to talk about it … you and Pepper … I'm not saying you have to talk to me, but someone, someday … otherwise you'll never be able to move on.' he told him, not even sure Tony was listening to him. 'Trust me.' he added thoughtfully before he headed for bed.

Tony stared after Bruce. "Move on?" he thought … he'd not even thought about that since breaking up with Pepper. What did Bruce mean his brain wondered through a hazy fog of drunkenness? Did he think he should be with someone else? So soon after Pepper? So soon after New York? And what did he mean by "trust me" … it sounded like Bruce had been through something similar. Tony thought back, Bruce hadn't mentioned a girl once during their late night conversations … although it was Tony who tended to do most of the talking he realised guiltily.

Tony would have contemplated it more but he was quickly distracted by the feeling of bile rushing up from his stomach his mouth and had to make a mad dash to the bathroom.