"No Tony." Bruce replied again. Tony was stuck on his latest project and was spit balling ideas. He had been at it for ten minutes now and his ideas were getting more and more absurd.

"Come on Bruce, you have to admit that dragons would be cool." He leaned back in his chair so that only the back legs were touching the tiled floor. Bruce spared a second to glance up and eye his lab partner's precarious position before returning to his work.

"That doesn't mean that you should, or could make one." He refused to make eye contact and instead kept his gazed fixed firmly on the screen he was running his data on.

"Do you doubt the genius of Tony Stark?" Tony asked with mock offence.

"No tony I'm not doubting your genius." Bruce replied with the patience of a man who had answered the question on multiple occasions. "It's just impossible. No one can just go and make a new life form. There has to be some ancestral species and evolution and whatever else is needed for life to form and evolve." He continued typing away even though Tony's constant chatter was starting to distract him; he had just typed the same word three times in a row.

"OK. What if I only had to find one? Maybe they already exist and are just waiting for someone to come along and find them, kind of like a yeti or lockness monster."

Bruce raised an eyebrow at Tony's suggestion but refused to comment. He knew from previous experiences that it would only serve to encourage him.

There followed a few minutes of silence in which Bruce was able to slip back in to his work routine.

"Have you ever seen the movie Jurassic Park?"

"Yes Tony I've seen the movie. I think pretty much everyone has." At this point Bruce had given up on getting any actual work done and had opened a new document and was fiddling with his latest pet project.

"Well if they could bring back dinosaurs then why can't I make a dragon?" Bruce risked a glance in Tony's direction and was meet with a full on puppy pout, eyes and all.

"Fine tony; if they can do it in the movies then by all means be my guest and try.

Tony gave him a mischievous grin, "Your belief in me is greatly appreciated."

Bruce honestly couldn't tell if he was being serious by this point. "Please don't do anything that you are going to regret." Bruce began shutting down his work station knowing that he didn't want to be around for whatever it was that Tony was going to do. He closed the screen and got to his feet gathering the three dirty coffee mugs from the day before. He hurried to the elevator without looking back telling himself he most definitely did not want to know what was going on, if he didn't actually see what happened he couldn't be held responsible.

Although it had never been planned Thursday evenings had become the unofficial movie night. They took turns ordering food and picking movies. After the twilight incident it was unanimously decided that Thor was no longer allowed to pick the movies.

It was Tony's turn to pick the movie and the rest of the Avengers were sprawled across the couches waiting impatiently for him to show up. It was a well known fact that Tony Stark was scheduling challenged but he had yet to miss a movie night, let alone a chance for him to pick the movie. He seemed to pick, not based on which movie he would enjoy the most but on which movie the others would dislike. He had yet to pick a movie that Clint hadn't already seen. They had sat through several hours of crappy action movies, chick flicks, westerns and even a few foreign ones with poorly translated English subtitles. He was starting to think that SHEILD agents didn't actually do a lot, they just sat around watching awful movies and killing bad guys in between. It was one of his current goals in life to find a movie Clint hadn't seen.

Finally Natasha voiced everyone's question. "Where's Tony?"

Bruce sunk a little lower in his chair in a sub-conscience attempt to make himself less visible. Of course Natasha caught the subtle movement.

"Is there something we should know about your lab partner?"

Clint looked up and added "yah, what did you do to your science bro, blow him up or lock him in a closet?" He didn't look overly concerned having attempted both on a number of occasions. Clint took holding a grudge to a new level.

Although Natasha's question was asked innocently Bruce knew that he had no choice in whether or not to answer honestly.

"He may or may not be attempting to genetically engineer a dragon..." he trailed off not really knowing what else to say to make the sentence sound less absurd.

Natasha made a valiant effort to wipe her face of emotions but the others were not so restrained. Steve had a look of utter horror on his face. If Bruce was to hazard a guess he would say Steve was picturing some scaly, fire breathing version of frankenstien's monster being created in the lab. Thor looked confused, clearly having no idea what a dragon was, or genetic engineering.

Clint on the other hand had barely managed to stop himself from falling off of the couch he was laughing so hard.

Natasha was still staring at him clearly waiting for a better explanation. Bruce shrugged his shoulders in the universal gesture of "I don't know."

Clint had managed to catch his breath but was overtaken by another laughing fit when Thor asked in a very serious tone "Is this dragon another form of Midgardien life?"

They eventual settled on a movie, How to Train Your Dragon. Clint thought it was funny. Thor was just even more confused and kept asking when they would be able to battle the creatures themselves.

Tony never showed up for the movie but Bruce was not overly concerned. Tony could become very involved in his projects. And there hadn't been any large explosions.

He got ready for bed and grabbed a book before turning off all but his bedside lamp before climbing beneath the sheets. He read quietly for a few minutes before turning off the light and going to sleep.

"Bruce"

He thought he heard someone call his name. He tried to roll over to reach for his glasses on the night table but stopped when he felt a warm body beside him. It was only through years of training and months spent working with the man that prevented another incident.

"What the hell are you doing in my bed Tony; it's the middle of the night." He turned on the lamp and put on his glasses blinking as the room came into focus. He took in the rumpled clothing, messy hair and generally frazzled appearance of his friend.

He waited a moment for an answer but none was forthcoming. With a start Tony caught himself from keeling over. "Look." he yawned loudly as he handed over something soft and fluffy.

Bruce took it cautiously waiting for it to combust or explode or cause some sort of bodily harm. When it didn't he moved it into the light for closer inspection. It was made of some sort of soft material and filled with something firm but still squishy. He took in the head and beady glass eyes staring at him. It was no bigger than a kitten and fit in his cupped hands.

"I made him for you." Tony was leaning in to watch him "you can call him Tony jr if you want a cool name.

"You made me a stuffed toy?" He looked at the thing again and tried to recall a conversation in which he expressed an interested in poorly crafted stuffed animals.

"No, Stupid. I made you a dragon." He yawned again and Bruce had to stifle a yawn of his own. "I said I would didn't I?"

Bruce continued to stare at the creation in his hand. It wasn't bad given that Tony wasn't usually manufacturing toys. Considering what Tony was capable of it could have been much, much worse.

With a soft plunk Tony fell on his bed, fast asleep.

"Oh no you don't" Bruce tried to shove him off. "This is just weird Tony, get out of my bed."

"Too Tired." He moaned

"Tony"

All he got was a snort in response. He sighed heavily and attempted to pull his blanket out from beneath his friend's body but gave up.

He got up and turned off the light slowly making his way from the room in search of a vacant couch. He brought the stuffed dragon with him. It was cute. And it would work as a pillow.