I Will Fall
By AquaRias
Summary: Part two of Lonely Hearts series, sequel to In the Heart of a Lonely City. Tony have gone their separate ways, but fate has a way of bringing people back together. Post Avengers, post Dark Knight Rises, partly set during Iron Man 3.
Warnings: Slash main pairing, Femslash side pairing, some het side pairings also. (M/M, F/F, M/F) T rating so nothing explicit.
Notes: Also slight crossover with Chicago Fire in that one character makes an appearance.
Length will be approx. 50K if all goes to plan. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter One: Hello, Mr. Stark
Tony frowned at the screen as he studied the blueprints in front of him, gesturing with his hand to enlarge the hologram. The suit came to life in front of him, spinning slowly as he scrutinized the design.
"She's almost there, J." He announced, leaning back in his chair as the Mark 42 hologram spun before him. "We'll be able to start on the first prototype any day now." He grinned, flicking his hand to make the image disappear.
"Very good, Sir." Jarvis commented. "However I feel I must remind you of your promise to Miss Potts that you would not begin work on a new prototype until after the CES expo this weekend." Tony groaned, banging his head on the desk loudly. "I must also remind you of the speech you are required to give at said expo, the one that you informed Miss Potts that you had already written."
Tony sighed at his AI's passively sarcastic tone, frowning slightly. "Got it, J. I'll get right on that." Tomorrow, maybe. Or maybe not, improvisation had always been his favorite kind of speech. "Sir, Bruce is outside. Shall I let him in?"
Tony started at the name, head jerking up as he turned to face the glass door as his thoughts jumbled together in shock. Bruce was here? What - oh. He quickly shook his head, reigning in the disappointment that suddenly hit him like a tonne of bricks as he took in the man outside. "Let him in Jarvis." He said quickly, shaking off the uncomfortable feeling that had come over him.
"Hi, Bruce. Didn't know you were back." He commented, turning back to his computer screen as the doctor shuffled awkwardly inside.
"I, uh...well I guess I felt like it had been long enough." Dr. Banner said quietly, stopping to stand at Tony's side. "That, and Fury's been on my case about coming back." He admitted, shaking his head.
"Well it's good to have you." Tony assured him, motioning towards the empty desk on the other side of the lab. "Mi casa es su casa, and all that."
Bruce took the offered seat, shooting Tony a grateful smile. "How's it been at Avengers Tower anyway? I didn't run into anyone on the way down."
"Ugh." Tony groaned. "Avengers Tower my ass." He muttered. "Widow and Bird brains have been on some extended mission for Fury for months now and Thor has been dealing with Loki's punishment in Asgard. Guess the justice system takes a bit of time up there." He frowned heavily. "And with you gone, it's just been me and the Cap. You can imagine how well that's been going."
"Sorry." Bruce shrugged, looking rather unapologetic in Tony's opinion.
"Eh," Tony shrugged. "I suppose it isn't that bad. Me and Cap have worked things out, for the most part. We'll never be BFFs, but he's been significantly less of a self righteous douchebag in recent months."
"Good to hear." Bruce said with a nod. "Any idea when Fury's going to reassemble?"
"Your guess is as good as mine." Tony sighed. "Old one eye has been rather quiet, not that I'm complaining. If he's not calling then it means he's not bitching at me about security breaches or protocol lapses. Please tell me you'll stay here anyway though, I'm in desperate need of intelligent conversation and Jarvis just isn't cutting it." He whined, turning a pleading gaze to his fellow scientist.
"Not like I have anywhere else to go." Bruce shrugged.
"Great!" Tony's face lit up with delight. "How are you at writing speeches?"
...
Tony woke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright as he blinked furiously in the darkness. "Jarvis, lights!" He snapped hoarsely, eyes widening as the lights flickered on almost instantly.
The room was empty, there was no chitauri army and he wasn't sailing through a wormhole into space. He collapsed back into his pillows, rubbing his forehead with a groan as his free hand came to rest on the arc reactor in his chest. "Ugh," He groaned loudly as his head pounded. "J, what time is it?"
"It is just after 3 AM, Sir. You have slept for approximately an hour and a half." Jarvis answered, a faint note of concern in his voice.
Tony nodded, closing his eyes as he tried to slow his breathing. Get it together Stark. He thought to himself, banishing the unwanted images from his mind. "What time are we leaving for Vegas?" He wondered as he pulled himself out of bed.
"Not until 1 PM Sir," Jarvis answered. "Might I suggest that you get a few more hours sleep? You have slept less than ten hours in total this week, Sir." There was that concern again, much to Tony's irritation.
"Nope, sleep is for the weak." He muttered as he pulled on a shirt. "I'm going to the lab."
When he arrived at the lab he was more than a little surprised to see Bruce Banner awake, working on something on his side of the room. He glanced up as Tony entered, smiling slightly.
"Tony." He greeted with a nod.
"Banner." Tony frowned as he took his seat. "What are you doing up? I thought I was the only chronic night owl around here."
"Jet lag." Bruce offered with a small shrug. "It always takes me a little while to adjust."
They worked in silence for a while, until Bruce finally sighed and closed down his computer, leaning back in his chair. "So, I saw Steve this morning." He said finally, pulling Tony's attention away from the Mark 42 blueprints. "He said you made an interesting friend last month."
Tony frowned, turning to face Bruce with a sigh. "Did he now? Steve has a big mouth." He grumbled with a glower.
Bruce simply stared, waiting for Tony to elaborate.
"Not much to tell." Tony shrugged. "Batman was here for a case, needed my help - I helped him, he left. No biggie."
"Uh huh." Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Steve said you two were pretty good friends."
"Nope." Tony shook his head stubbornly. "Don't know where he got that idea from."
"He seemed a little concerned," Bruce added, eyeing Tony carefully. "Wanted me to ask you about it..." He paused slightly before continuing. "Make sure you were okay."
"Okay?" Tony scoffed. "Why wouldn't I be?" He frowned, feeling more than a little uncomfortable at the turn this conversation had taken. "Tell Steve to mind his own God damned business." He snapped, turning away from Bruce and back to the screen in front of him.
Bruce eyed him for a second, before nodding slowly. "Okay Tony, whatever you say." He sighed. "But I'm here if you want to talk about it."
Tony snorted, refusing to acknowledge that with a reply. Bruce frowned behind him before standing up and heading for the door. "Seriously Tony, if you ever want to talk..." He paused with his hand on the door. "I'm here for you, Science bros and all that." He added with a chuckle.
"Noted." Tony said briskly, not looking away from the screen. A moment later he heard the hiss of the door as Bruce left, probably to try and get some sleep. "Jarvis, remind me to have a word with Captain Nosey-pants." He snapped as he enlarged the blueprints in front of him. He bristled with irritation for the next few hours as he worked on the blueprints, snarking at Jarvis as he went.
"I don't need their damn concern." He muttered angrily under his breath. "And I don't need yours either!" He snapped, glancing up at the ceiling as he addressed his silent AI.
"No Sir." Jarvis replied somewhat sadly. "According to you, you don't need anyone."
"I don't." He snapped angrily, leaning back in his chair. "I don't need Banner, I don't need Pepper pretending to care when she's the one who dumped me, and I definitely don't need Captain fricken America telling everyone how God damned concerned he is about me. Jesus." He rubbed his temples feeling a headache coming on. "How long until we're in Vegas?" He demanded deciding it couldn't come at a better time - he definitely needed a break from the Tower now more than ever.
...
Vegas, as always, was Tony's kind of city. He knocked back at least five scotches on the plane, meaning he was more than pleasantly buzzed by the time the plane was back on the ground. He didn't need to be at the convention center for his speech until the following day, so he made his way from the plane directly to the hotel's casino.
He played a few hands, downing four more scotches and two complimentary glasses of champagne as he lost every round, becoming steadily more tipsy as the night wore on. He finally retired from the tables after he had lost several thousand bucks on crappy hands, taking a seat with his new friend - Shannon. Or was it Sharon? He couldn't be sure, but whatever her name was she was gorgeous and exactly his type; a long legged blonde with curves in all the right places. He had been talking to her almost all night, and he had thoroughly enjoyed her company more than he usually did the typical hangers on he always attracted. She was funny and smart - an IT consultant, also in Vegas for the CES expo - and did he mention smoking hot?
"Wanna take this upstairs?" She whispered, lips almost touching his ear as he leaned in to hear her over the noise of the casino.
He nodded quickly, taking her hand as she pulled him to his feet. He stumbled slightly for a moment before regaining his balance, throwing an arm around her as they made their way up the stairs.
"Careful!" She cautioned with a laugh as he nearly missed the last step. "You Sir, are a little bit drunk." She teased.
"Nope." He denied, shaking his head furiously. "Not drunk, just..." He trailed off, blinking as he tried to remember what he had been saying. Finally he settled on just a shrug, causing his companion to laugh once more.
"Which floor?" She said finally as they stopped outside the elevator.
"Penthouse, of course." Tony scoffed, shaking his head. "You clearly don't know me at all."
"I know you." She assured him as she helped him into the elevator. "You're Tony Stark, everyone knows you."
Tony frowned, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the wall. His head was swimming and his vision was beginning to blur a little at the edges, which was never a good sign. "I suppose that's true." He sighed.
She carefully helped him out of the elevator and into the penthouse, steering him towards the huge double bed that was waiting for them. He collapsed onto it with a sigh, watching as she made her way to the minibar fridge.
"Can I get you another drink?" she asked, pouring herself a glass of champagne.
"Hmm." Tony closed his eyes, rubbing his temple. "Best not I think."
"Probably a good idea." She said with a laugh, placing her glass on the bedside table. "We do need you conscious for a little bit longer, after all." She teased as she unzipped her dress. Tony watched, eyes slightly glazed over as she slowly slowly slid her dress down and presented herself to him in just her black lingerie. She was stunning, there was no question...and yet Tony found himself faced with a distinct lack of interest on his part.
He shook his head slightly, trying to distract himself as she pushed him down onto the bed and began to unbutton his shirt. He closed his eyes as she continued her ministrations, his thoughts drifting elsewhere for just a moment. Suddenly he found himself imagining a different set of hands on him, rougher calloused hands that were used to hard work. He frowned heavily, his head pounding and stomach rolling as the sheer amount of alcohol he had consumed made itself known. He tried to ignore his discomfit, opening his eyes as he felt her hands pause on his chest.
"Are you okay?" She asked softly. He frowned slightly, bristling a little at the clear concern he saw in her sky blue eyes.
"I'm fine." He snapped, causing her to lean back slightly with a frown.
"Are you sure?" She suddenly looked a lot less sure of herself, her arms folding across her body as she shifted herself off him and onto the mattress beside him.
"I'm sorry." He sighed, rubbing his eyes. "I'm just..." Drunk? Confused? Not into it? He couldn't find anything to say, and so just shook his head. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay." She reassured him, standing up quickly and collecting her dress off the floor. "I'll just...go."
Tony watched her leave, guilt slowly creeping up on him. What on earth was wrong with him? She was easily one of the hottest women he'd had the chance to fuck, and yet he couldn't deliver. "Too much scotch." He muttered, stumbling over towards the balcony. He threw the door open and leaned on the railing, looking over at the brightly lit city. So much color, a whole city still awake and alive despite the fact that it was after three in the morning. He leaned over the railing, staring down at the pavement so far below him and wondered what it would feel like to fall over it. He closed his eyes as a picture filled his mind; himself in the powerless Mark 7 suit, falling to his death as he slipped back through the wormhole. He jolted backwards, eyes snapping open as the body in his mind rushed towards an imminent impact with the pavement - only this time the Hulk wasn't there to catch him.
He shook his head with a sigh and headed back inside, hoping the alcohol would be enough to lull him to sleep.
...
The speech the following morning at the CES expo went impeccably, if Tony did say so himself. Even though he was more than a little hungover, he managed to pull off the mostly improvised speech about what the tech world could look forward to from Stark Industries, complete with demonstrations. Despite keeping his sunglasses on and doing his best to avoid Pepper, she still found him after his speech and promptly cornered him.
"Tony." She sighed, hands on her hips. "I can smell the scotch from here."
"Yes but they couldn't." Tony shrugged carelessly, pulling out his Stark phone to check the latest tweets.
"I thought you weren't drinking like that anymore." She demanded, raising an accusing eyebrow.
Tony bristled, visibly darkening. "What's it to you?" He snapped. "I'll drink as much as I damn well please."
"Tony." She frowned, softening her tone. "I'm just worried about you. Ever since the battle of New York..." She trailed off, knowing she was in dangerous territory. "Things haven't been the same." She said finally.
Tony scoffed, shaking his head. Of course things hadn't been the same. They had been terrorized by a crazy demi God who had invaded New York with an alien army, Coulson had been killed, Tony had carried a nuclear bomb through a wormhole - and after all that, Pepper had left him, the avengers had disbanded and Tony...well Tony had been left to figure it all out on his own. And then he had met Bruce, and that had turned out about as well as everything else in Tony's life tended to...he shook his head, not letting himself dwell on that line of thought. "I'm fine, Pep." He said instead, knowing that bringing it all up again wouldn't help.
"Are you really?" She implored.
He nodded simply, meeting her gaze for a long moment before turning away. "I have to go, the sponsor's dinner is about to start."
"I know." She sighed. "Happy's waiting outside to take you to the venue. Try to be nice, would you? You'll be in a room with many of the richest and most powerful people in the world." She cautioned.
"Lucky me." Tony muttered, heading for the door.
An hour later Tony was sitting at his table, brimming with agitation as he tapped his fingers on the table listlessly. He had known there was a reason he hated these things, but he had forgotten quite how boring they could be.
"Mmhmm." He said idly as the old woman beside him paused, expecting a response. "I wholeheartedly agree." He nodded quickly, glancing away as she shot him a confused look. She frowned before turning to the man on her other side in hope that he would prove a more interested conversation partner.
Tony sighed, staring into his glass of champagne as he wondered how much longer this dinner would drag on for. They had already sat through several long speeches of benefactors who knew nothing about the tech they were throwing their money at looking to have their egos stroked, and it looked like they were getting ready to start yet another as the host stepped on to the podium once again.
"And finally," He began loudly, pulling the attention of the room towards him once again. "We have our last benefactor without whose contribution the expo could not have gone ahead, the esteemed Mr. Wayne - CEO of Wayne Enterprises."
Tony started at the name, eyes widening as he glanced to the side of the stage. He waited in anticipation as the curtain was drawn back and a man stepped out. At first Tony almost didn't recognize the man in the crisp silver suit, clearly tailor made and as well fitting as they come. His hair was combed back and not a one out of place as he stepped onto the stage, looking every bit the billionaire as Tony had never seen him in person before. It was a far cry from the man he had known, who when not in the Batsuit had always worn jeans. This was the Wayne heir Tony had seen on TV countless times in previous years, not the coffee shop inhabiting man Tony had known so briefly.
"Good evening friends," Bruce began as he reached the podium. "It is my honor to be here with you today. Some of you may be surprised to see me here after the news of my death last year - well I can assure you that those reports were greatly exaggerated. You can imagine my surprise when I returned from my holiday in Europe to find myself presumed dead." He paused with a wide grin as the audience laughed. "However thankfully that is not the case, and I am once again the CEO of Wayne Enterprises. Wayne Enterprises has always had a strong interest in technology, and in recent years it has indeed become a large focus of both mine and my company. I believe renewable energy is something that we can all appreciate the value of, and so to be here today in support of the Consumer Electronics Show Expo is my absolute pleasure. As I'm sure you are all aware CES has announced it's focus this year towards renewable energy and the way in which tech companies like ours can help pave the way to a renewable future. We are not quite there yet, but I believe that powering the world with one hundred percent renewable energy is definitely a goal that is on our horizon, we have seen it in New York already and with the combined strength of all the great minds here tonight it won't be long before we are on our way to a brighter, cleaner future. I for one am glad of the part Wayne Enterprises has played and will continue to play in the development of this technology, as I am sure all of you are also. Thank you very much and I hope everyone is enjoying this evening as much as I am."
He stepped down with a nod, shaking hands with the host before disappearing back into the wings as the crowd applauded. Tony blinked, leaning back in his chair as his mind raced. Bruce was here, in the same city, in the same room. Tony was suddenly glad that this was such a big event, it was entirely possible that Bruce did not even know he was here, and if Tony was careful it could easily remain that way. Tony quickly formulated an escape plan, knowing he could be out the door before Bruce even returned to his table. But did he want to? Would it be so bad if Bruce saw him?
Tony sighed, rubbing his forehead absently. What would he even say? They hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms the last time they had spoken, and it was entirely possible that Bruce wouldn't have anything to say to him anyway. He started to reconsider leaving, when his eyes fell on a tall form that was entering through the side door. Too late, Tony thought as Bruce made his way back to a table just a few tables behind Tony's. Had he been there the whole time? Tony wondered. Surely Tony would have seen him at some point, being so close. Then again, he had been rather distracted and hadn't payed attention to much of anything since he had arrived.
He glanced up only to quickly look away as he noticed Bruce's dark eyes fixed solidly on him. That answered that question, he supposed. He glued his gaze to the table, refusing to look back over and be caught staring again. He was starting to seriously reconsider an escape, when he felt a light tap on his shoulder.
He lifted his gaze carefully, only to find it locked onto the dark gaze of Bruce Wayne, all handsome and imposing as he stood over Tony.
"Hello, Mr. Stark." Bruce said pleasantly, his deep voice as smooth as honey as he smiled slightly.
Tony blinked away his surprise and steeled himself for the encounter to come as he turned to face him properly. "Good evening Mr. Wayne."