Authors note:
This is my first fanfic ever so please read and review (how can I get better if you keep views to yourselves?) I don't own anything!
It was over as quickly as it had begun. Tony had thought that Bruce's return had meant something, something more substantial than a few hours as the Hulk and then catching the first flight back to India he could get.
Thor and Loki had just flashed away, back to Asgard, with the Tesseract and as long as humans never got their hands on that little cube of trouble again Tony would die a happy man. At least until next week when he'll no doubt drink himself into a stupor at a party and forget about the whole terrible mess. Steve had wandered off towards his bike and Clint and Tasha had run off together a while back hand in hand.
Back to more pressing issues.
"Look Bruce, you can stay with me for as long as you need to, as long as you want to."
"Tony" Bruce let out an exasperated sigh and Tony knew that Dr Banner had already gone over this conversation in his head. "Look, it's not safe for me to stay here"
"And how did you figure that one out?" Tony asked even though he knew what Bruce would say, the bloody Hulk couldn't stay near civilization for any long periods of time.
"New York is going to be rebuilding for months maybe even a year or two, if I were… to have an incident. It would just cause too much trouble and people could get hurt and I.."
"Oh, because I can't afford to rebuild New York three times over? Bruce you need a proper excuse, I want a proper excuse from you" Tony couldn't help it, he was so used to getting whatever he wanted and Bruce, well Bruce was the only person he had ever been able to connect with on an intellectual level and a personal level. And now he wanted to leave, he couldn't let that happen!
"I" Fight or flight mode was definitely setting in, Bruce's shoulders were inverting on themselves and his knees were bending slightly, he was obviously trying to make himself as invisible as possible in front of Tony's eyes. It was time to take pity.
"At least let me give you a ride to the airport, and then let me fly you there." Bruce actually cracked a smile at this.
"I couldn't ask you to"
"Nope too late, I've decided already. If you're not staying then I'll take you myself" He couldn't help it, the wink just happened. And of course this caused Bruce to blush furiously.
"Fine, I guess that would work"
"Great! Let's go" Tony hopped over the door and into the driver's seat of his red convertible. Always choosing the safer option Bruce shook his head with a chuckle and used the door. "Wakey wakey Jarvis"
"Good afternoon sir, I assume the transportation of Loki went according to plan" The AI spoke out of the console on the dashboard.
"Of course! I was there to supervise"
"Don't look so smug, the wind will change and your face will stick… oh too late" Bruce was starting to lighten up now that Tony had accepted he was going then maybe he could have a few hours of happiness before leaving first world civilization, again.
"Dr Banner you dirty little tease!" Again Bruce blushed. 'We're going to have to fix that' Tony thought.
"Little, we're the same height" Bruce tried to hold himself up a bit higher but his shyness didn't really allow much difference. They were now whizzing through an area of less crowded buildings. Was Tony even aware of a speed limit?
"I believe there's an inch at least in there"
"There is not"
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Jarvis!"
"Sir?"
"What is the height difference between me and Bruce?"
"I believe that you are 2.5 cm taller than Dr Banner."
"Ha! I told you!" The smile spread so wide once he saw that Bruce was enjoying himself.
"You're exhausting! you know that right? No wonder Jarvis always sounds so exasperated." He chuckled.
It was starting to get a bit darker now. "Where are we going?"
"To my plane of course!" Tony smirked sideways at him.
"I thought you had air strips everywhere?"
"Yeah but this is the only way I can spend a bit more time with my science bro before you break my heart and leave me forever!" A few dramatic sniffs and an eye wipe slipped in to adhere to Tony's constant over-dramatic tendencies. "We're going to Oxford airport if you must know"
"Why Oxford?"
"Because I have a plane there durh! Come on Banner, I thought you were smart?"
"Oh, right" Bruce looked at his hands that were wringing in his lap. Tony just kept on smirking didn't he?
"Jarvis, put on the radio, I don't think Bruce wants to talk to me anymore!"
"Yes sir" replied the AI
"Well, I think that we need to find these Avengers and make them answer for the destruction that they've caused!" The shows presenter announced in an overly annoyed and fairly annoying voice "We know Stark can afford it! He should pay for it all! We have a caller on line 3; yes what do have to say about this mess they've caused?"
A young woman answered the presenter in a very excited voice "Iron Man saved the world! He shouldn't have to pay for anything after what he did to those aliens! Not to mention he's totally sexy! That's all he is sexy! His superpower is sexy! He shoots sexy beams! I'm not even joking!"
"Well I don't know about that Miss. There should be at least some compensation offered to the city"
"He rode a god damned nuke into space! What more do you want?"
The girl then began to get very angry towards the radio presenter, so much so that Tony turned the radio off manually.
"Fan girls are so creepy, you should be glad they don't know who you really are!"
"And why is that?" They were pulling into a relatively small airport; Bruce could already see a plane with the Stark logo.
"Do you have any idea how many freaky women there are out there that will be willing to get a piece of the Hulk, in both states of being?"
"That's horrible!" Bruce was genuinely shocked "that's… that's…"
"That's life my dear naïve doctor!"
The plane was small, for a Stark plane, but spacious inside and in true Tony style had a fully stocked bar. They sat together on the plush couch for a few hours; Tony throwing back glass after glass of scotch and other alcoholic drinks that Bruce had never heard of, and Bruce was slowly starting to relax a bit while nursing his iced green tea.
"All I'm saying, Bruce, is that it would be so easy to run some tests in India and then I can easily have Stark tower Hulk-proofed. I could even build him a playground when you need to blow off some steam! You wouldn't have to wake up naked and surrounded by strangers anymore"
"No, just you!"
"Exactly!" '
For the love of all that's peaceful' Bruce though 'he's winking again! Calm thoughts Bruce, calmer thoughts!'
"I don't see why you won't have a drink with me?"
"I am having a drink with you" Bruce gestured to his cup of tea. Tony just rolled his eyes.
"I mean a proper drink!"
"Alcohol lowers inhibitions, makes it easier for mood swings to happen, makes it harder for me to control … the other guy"
"And one drink will make you Hulk out?"
"With you it's never one drink" Bruce sighed "I don't want to risk it with you here, he could hurt you and even if you didn't that's a 30,000 foot drop."
"Your concerned for little ole me, I'm touched" Tony batted his eyelashes a few times, enjoying this much to much "now stop looking like someone just kicked your puppy, I'll be fine lookie!" he brought up his wrists to show Bruce the bracelets for the Mark VII "I came prepared you know! Contrary to popular belief I'm not an idiot and I thought you would be more comfortable knowing that I could get out of the way if needs be!"
"Very thorough thinking for your blood to alcohol ratio" Bruce said flatly.
"I was a boy scout you know, I'm always prepared! Doesn't matter what colour you turn, the big guy likes me anyway!"
"The Hulk doesn't like anyone" he said sadly, sure he saved Betty a few times but the green guy didn't know why, did he?
"Then explain why he jumped nearly a mile across New York to catch me?"
"He what?" Bruce was completely shocked. Sure he didn't usually remember his time when the other guy was in charge, but something like this?
"Yeah, plucked me right out of the sky and even landed on his back so I wouldn't feel the landing!"
"That's not possible…" Bruce said more to himself than to Tony "I might need that drink after all" Tony grinned from ear to ear, he was finally getting through to this guy.
"See, it's good to have some fun!" he said as he passed Bruce another glass of scotch. On the rocks, he had to ruin a fine drink that way didn't he?
A beam of light hit Bruce right in the eyes and startled him awake. His head hurt too much to open his eyes at the moment but he knew something was off. His head was absolutely killing him and he couldn't remember most of last night. 'Oh god I hulked out didn't I?' he thought to himself, suddenly memories of him and Tony conversing in a car and walking into a plane flashed to the forefront of his mind 'Shit! I hope I didn't hurt Tony!'
Trying to wake himself up properly he became aware of his uncomfortable position, he seemed to be half sitting up on a comfortable surface but the angle of his neck made it slightly painful (and adding to his headache made it much worse), there was a weight against the right hand side of his body and slightly on his chest, but he had awoken so many times in broken buildings and covered in rubble that it didn't bother him at all.
That was until he noted that he was still completely clothed, right down to the shoes. And when the weight started to move his knowledge that something was off was cemented. Bruce slowly cracked open an eye and looked down. There was Tony, still fast asleep and curled in slightly so that he could hug Dr Banner properly.
He watched Tony's face for a few minutes, which stretched into a few minutes, just thinking. Going over all of the different variables in his mind, what could certainly happen, what could never happen, and what – with a great deal of luck – might happen. And for the first time in so many years since the accident Bruce felt a bit of hope for his future.
Once his eyes had properly adjusted he looked out of the nearby window and they were definitely in India, and suddenly it didn't seem like such a great idea to be here again, memories of loneliness crept into his mind. He looked to Tony again, perhaps he would go back to America, he honestly wanted to do some more travelling but maybe he would take Tony up on his offer when he went back. After all, how could he avoid his –as Tony put it – science bro?
Authors note:
Ok, so I think that went well. Please review but please be gentle, it's my first time!