"Welcome to Stark Tower."
Bruce banner gaped at the huge building in front of him, but quickly shut his mouth. Living in a third-world country for so long made everything in New York seem much bigger than he remembered.
"It's nothing much," Tony Stark said from beside him. "Definitely needs some renovations on the top few floors, but I have bedrooms on a lot of them, so you can sleep wherever you want. Do whatever you want. Or whoever."
They traveled to the very top floor, where Bruce winced at the Loki-shaped dents in the floor, which were much larger than dents. Tony walked over to the half-demolished bar and poured himself a drink. "Want something?" He held out the glass.
Bruce shook his head. "I don't drink."
Tony snorted. "You're kidding. Here." He walked over and put the drink in Bruce's hand. The doctor shook his head.
"I'm serious."
"Sure you are." Tony motioned for him to follow, and pressed a button for the elevator. Bruce set the glass back down at the bar and followed.
xxxxx
Bruce walked into the lab a week later where he and Tony did their research. When his friend noticed him, he looked away from the computer and smiled. "Bruce! Come here, I want to ask you something."
Not sure whether to trust or run from the excited smile on the billionaire's face, Bruce warily made his way over to him, hands in his pockets. "What?"
Tony held up a pillow. It was plush and filled with feathers, protected by a silk pillowcase. "You know punching a pillow is supposed to relieve stress?"
"Uh, yeah," Bruce answered.
"Try it."
"What?"
Tony held the expensive pillow out to his friend. "Punch the pillow. I want to see if it helps or just makes you angrier."
Bruce stared down at the pillow, his eyes filled with something Tony couldn't read. Finally, he held up his hands and replied simply,"I don't punch things."
Tony rolled his eyes. "Uh, yes, you do. Do you not remember the battle with the Chitauri? 'Hulk smash'? The fist-fight you had with Thor on the helicarrier?"
Bruce rubbed the back of his neck. "I wish I didn't."
The billionaire huffed. "Just...punch the pillow! It's a pillow, for God's sakes, not a real person!" Bruce didn't move. Tony threw the pillow over his shoulder. "Fine. What do youdo to stay calm?"
xxxxx
"So what-"
"Ssh. No talking."
Silence. Then:
"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing."
"Just listen to your breathing," Bruce replied, his eyes closed, his hands on his lap. His legs were folded underneath him, and Tony was in a similar position, resting on a cushion from Bruce's bed on the floor. "Acknowledge it. Try not to let your mind wander."
Tony tried. He couldn't.
"This is frustrating. How is this supposed to calm me down if I can't stay focused when I'm supposed to?"
"The point is to sit and breathe. In silence," the doctor emphasized. "And if you're frustrated just because of that, then I don't know how you haven't committed suicide yet."
Tony flushed a bit, and was glad that his friend had his eyes closed. "Don't you ever think of doing anything fun? Like going out to a club or going for a drive in one of my cars or...or...yelling at some old people? Maybe making out with someone in a closet?"
He swore that he saw Bruce tense up just the slightest bit. "I don't do closets."
"You don't really do anything, do you? Or anyone." When Bruce didn't answer, Tony stood and walked to the door.
"You should really try the pillow."
xxxxx
Iron Man landed next to a cold, shallow creek where a naked man was sitting on the bank. He crossed the stream and handed him a pile of clean clothes.
"Thanks." He started to pull the clothes on his wet body, shivering slightly from the cold water.
"So what happened?" Iron Man asked as Bruce buttoned the purple shirt. The man looked up. "Huh?"
"What made you flip out?"
"Oh," Bruce said, rubbing his arms. "I, uh, tried the pillow."
"And?"
"And I flipped out."
Iron Man crossed his arms. "So you do punch pillows." Bruce shrugged. "Thought it would help. I mean, you told me to."
"Um, how long have you known me for? Haven't you learned that doing something that Tony Stark does is bad?"
"No, it was an experiment. That you thought of. I didn't think...I mean, you created the Iron Man suit!" Bruce seemed at a loss for words. "I- I didn't think you'd put...I thought you wouldn't let me d-do something if there was a risk..."
Tony stared at his friend. Bruce had trusted him. He hadn't known that it would bring out the Other Guy. It was punching a pillow. He hadn't really thought about it because it had seemed so trivial. Tony supposed that he hadn't really cared at the time. He had just wanted Bruce to feel better, more at ease. He had put that all at risk.
Are you gonna fuck this friendship up like you did like all of the others?
No. He wasn't. Tony wasn't going to let Bruce just walk away, like Rhodey or Pepper or-
Pepper. Tony had trusted her. With his life, even. And what had she done? Walked away with only a note and a pair of socks she had forgotten.
"I-" Why was this so hard to say? "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I didn't know it would up your heart rate. I thought it would make you more lethargic from the exertion and make you a bit more at ease." Bruce kept his head lowered. "Or we can go to Amsterdam. You want some weed? That can be taken care of."
Bruce just shook his head, his gaze on a tree over to Iron Man's left.
"I just- really want this to feel like your home. I want you to stay. We're like partners! When was the last time you had a real place to call home that you looked forward to going to?"
"Never," Bruce answered, gaze on his bare feet.
Tony paused in his monologue. "What? Never?"
Bruce looked a bit irritated. "Yeah, Tony, never." He was looking right at Tony now. "I've never had a real home before. Because the people I lived with were weak. They turned to alcohol and violence for help instead of a therapist or each other."
Tony didn't say anything. He had nothing to say. Bruce put his head in his hands. "Can we go? Home?"
Tony nodded and flew them both home, liking how the word sounded in his head, holding the shivering man as tightly as he could without hurting him.
xxxxx
"You know, you didn't have to drop me in a freezing lake."
Bruce sat on the couch next to a bar on one of Tony's non-demolished, more expensive floors. He had a glass of water in one hand and a tissue in another.
"How was I supposed to get you to change back into you?" Tony sat in a plush chair next to the couch.
"I don't know...sing me a lullaby?"
"Would that work?" Bruce saw the look of experimentation in Tony's eyes and wiggled the tissue in his face. "No. I forbid you from trying. First if all, it would be embarrassing. And second-" he sneezed violently into the tissue. "Bad things happen when you experiment with the Other Guy."
"Is the Other Guy trying to compete with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?" Tony glanced at Bruce's nose, red from the itchy tissues and the bad cold he had caught.
Bruce's face became as red as his nose. "It's your fault and you know it, Tony. Don't try-" he cut himself off as he sneezed again.
Tony rolled his eyes and handed Bruce another tissue, taking the used one and dropping it into the small wastebasket next to their feet. "Yeah, yeah, no more experimenting with The Hulk. Got it." He held out his drink to Bruce. "Here, you might feel better."
"I don't drink," came the stuffy response.
"Why not?" Tony inquired. Bruce didn't look at him, but rather he shifted in his seat on the couch, his smile fake and his eyes reminiscent as they looked at the floor. "Oh, my, uh, my dad was..." he swallowed,"he was an alcoholic. He was drunk all the time. Can't remember a time when he wasn't. He...well, he lost his temper too many times to count. He used to hit my mom. He used to hit me." He laughed, but it was bitter and forced. "He used to lock me in the closet for weeks just because he was mad at me. I guess that was the reason he hurt me, too."
Tony nodded. He now realized why Bruce didn't drink alcohol, or punch things when he was Bruce, or liked closets. He hadn't known any of these things. He was surprised that the guy didn't have a severe case of claustrophobia. The billionaire leaned forward and looked Bruce straight in the eye, wanting to seem as serious as possible, because he was serious!
"I promise that as long as you're here, I won't make you touch any alcohol, or punch anything, or make you go in a closet. You don't have to do anything you don't want to." Tony placed a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "This is your home now. OK? Do whatever you want. This is ours and no one else's. OK?" Bruce stared at Tony for a long time. He finally nodded his head, his eyes dipping to the floor. He smiled.
"OK."
Home. Bruce liked the sound of the word. He had never had a realhome before. Now he did. It felt wonderful.