So they saved the world, had a celebratory dinner afterwards and once Loki and the cube were safely off world Tony drove Bruce to the airport. It was a warm, sunny day and the wind ruffled Bruce's curls which Tony found distracting.
He took the long route but if Bruce noticed then he didn't say anything. Tony talked, theorising about the Chitauri weapons and if they would ever get to see Asgard. Bruce smiled and nodded, his head leaning in the crook of his arm while he watched Tony.
Finally the road signs all showed the way to the airport and Tony stopped talking. He wanted to say something that would make Bruce stay. Sure they had only met a couple days ago but Tony had felt a connection and he wanted to make sure he wasn't imagining it.
Hell, he had nearly died saving the world, if someone deserved to be a bit selfish it was him. His thoughts took a sharp turn towards Coulson who had died and who couldn't be selfish ever again.
Bruce touched his wrist with a concerned look on his face and yeah, Tony had probably spaced out there for a moment.
The terminal building loomed over them and Bruce in his bright yellow shirt looked out of place against the front of grey steel and glass.
"The job is still yours if you want", Tony said in a valiant last attempt to make Bruce change his mind.
"Thank you", Bruce said and smiled like he meant it. "I just need some time before I can go back to this."
"Don't tell me New York is too busy for you", Tony snorted.
"No, it's too", Bruce struggled for a moment to find the right word, "breakable."
"Do you know where you want to go?" Tony asked after a moment.
Bruce shook his head. "Anywhere will do. Thank you for the money."
"See it as the first part of your wages. If you want the rest you'll have to come back."
"I will anyway", Bruce said. For a moment he looked as if he wanted to say or do something else but then he just gave Tony a quick smile and walked into the airport.
/
Tony threw himself into his work. He couldn't sleep anyway, not when he was falling through darkness chased by a deadly, blinding light fanning out to get him. With everyone else having taken off he did the publicity work following the Chitauri invasion. He redesigned his suit and poked the now useless Chitauri weapons until he grew bored of it. They were utterly unresponsive to everything he tried and not for the first time he wished Bruce would just finally come back.
He thought about tracking down Bruce a couple times but never went through with it. Instead he challenged Rhodey for a one on one in their suits in the middle of nowhere.
Rhodey won again, damn him.
"Suits your right for not calling me in for a fucking alien invasion", Rhodey laughed.
"Next time", Tony promised breathlessly and opened his visor as well.
"You look like hell. I thought you left all the actual work to Pepper now."
"It's not that", Tony said, not convincingly enough because Rhodey raised his eyebrows.
/
"Bad dream?" Pepper asked when she found him up and working again in the middle of the night.
"You could say that."
"More like bad reality, isn't it?" Pepper took Tony's mug and put it out of reach. "You need to sleep, Tony."
"I have work to do."
"He'll come back, Tony. You know he will."
But Tony didn't know and he preferred to work instead of thinking about it.
It was stupid anyway, this immature pining after a man he had only known for a couple days. But he had been so sure….
His phone vibrated with a text message alert. It was nothing but a smiley face sent from an obscure number. Tony smiled and went into the kitchen to make another cup of coffee.
/
It was a sunny and for October warm day in New York. The trees had turned golden and red and the wind was sweeping the colourful leaves through the streets. Tony preferred California but Pepper had put down her foot since Shield was definitely not something she dealt with.
Fury had been annoyingly vague about the reason he had wanted to see Tony, something about Russia and their bionic program and so he had escaped as soon as possible.
Tony stopped dead in his tracks when he turned around the corner, next to a café just in front of Stark Tower. Bruce was standing on the other side of the sidewalk, his hair a little longer than the last time Tony had seen him and his clothes a lot shabbier but from the awkward shuffle of his feet to the shy smile he was undeniably Bruce.
"Hi", Bruce said.
"Hi", Tony answered.
"Pepper called me. She said you were working yourself too hard."
"She worries too much", Tony said dismissively.
Bruce looked sceptical. "When was the last time you slept in bed?"
"When was the last time you were here?" Tony asked instead a little too honest in his own opinion.
"Is that job still open then?" Bruce asked after a moment.
"Is that why you came back?" Tony asked back.
"Partly", Bruce shrugged.
"And the other part?"
Bruce took two steps to close the distance between them and, sinking his fingers into the silky material of Tony's shirt, he pressed a short, dry kiss to Tony's lips.
"Sorry", Bruce said bashfully when he saw Tony's stunned expression. "Am I wrong?"
"Why would you think that? In fact why did you stop?" Tony demanded to know.
"You weren't kissing back." Bruce explained.
"Let me rectify my mistake", Tony answered. One of his hands found Bruce's hip, the other tangled into his curls which were just as soft as Tony had imagined and kissed him like he had dreamed to kiss him.