Pairing: Bruce Wayne/Tony Stark. Don't like don't read.

Sequel to Friendly Takeover.

"Hm."

"What 'hm'?" Tony prodded.

"It's pretty deep."

"I know that!"

Bruce's jaw tightened. "I didn't." He turned the hologram sideways and enlarged it; Tony still had the best tech. "You're missing part of your sternum?"

"Pretty much."

"And your lungs? They look smaller."

"They are smaller."

Bruce reached for the nearest rolling stool and sat down. He stared at the hologram for longer than appropriate, possibly without even being aware of it. If he'd looked at it with his pity-face, Tony would have lashed out. But he was giving it that look of amazed 'you shouldn't exist' which Tony was familiar with; although, usually, it wasn't tinged with horror like now and it was directed at Tony after he had shown off some invention or knowledge ordinary people didn't think he – or anyone – should be capable of.

Tony looked away from Bruce's profile, eyes drawn to the x-ray of his upper body instead. It did look pretty horrible. He supposed that's what happened when you got operated on in a cave after a missile blast hit you.

"He did what he could," Tony remarked.

"What was his name?"

The name stuck in his throat. Tony hadn't told anyone so far, not the horrified doctors at Landstuhl, not even Rhodey or Pepper. In theory, he hadn't even told Bruce that such a man existed, until now, but of course he'd guessed. Bruce was mostly 'normal' (as opposed to Tony, who had always been precocious and not normal), but he wasn't stupid. He wasn't a math or science genius, but he could draw his own conclusions and he'd always loved a good mystery. If there was such a thing as the world's best detective, Bruce would be in the running.

"Yinsen," Tony said. And: "He died."

"It wasn't your fault," Bruce said automatically.

"Yes, it was. He died so I'd have enough time to charge the suit and blast myself out of the cave."

There was nothing Bruce could say to that. They shared a hatred of platitudes.

"We'll have to take your – body modifications into account during training. Your reduced lung capacity will be a problem for your stamina." Bruce ignored the pointedly raised eyebrow directed at him. "We need to work around it. Have you experienced any shortness of breath? Chest pain from the reactor? Anything else which is new or different from before?"

"You sound like a nurse," Tony groused.

Before, he'd have taken any opportunity to complain and earn himself some sympathy and – possibly – sex. Now, he was a lot more guarded.

"I'm on your side, Tony. If we want your training to be effective, we need to know these things."

"What's the point of turning me into a ninja when I have the armor?"

"Armor which weighs, what, two, three times your body weight? And what happens if you get caught outside of it and you can't reach it?"

"I guess I had better make sure that doesn't happen. Through science."

"Science is great, don't get me wrong. But there's one thing you'll always have with you and that's your body. And your brain."

"Two things then."

Bruce rolled his eyes.

"You agreed to it."

Tony rubbed a hand over his face. "Okay." He cast a look around. "Let's find out my limits then. I have a treadmill and everything necessary to monitor my vitals. If we need anything else, I'm sure we can get it within the week."

Bruce nodded. "Let's get started then."

"Who are you?"

Bruce turned around. He could guess who she was: Pepper Potts, the woman Tony talked about most.

She sounded wary, and her eyebrows were drawn together, wrinkling her forehead.

"Bruce Wayne," he said, giving her a charming smile. He'd already seen the glint of recognition in her eyes, and now she relaxed slightly, though not completely.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wayne. I'm Virginia Potts."

"Bruce, please."

"Call me Pepper. I didn't realize you and Mr. Stark know each other?"

"Most of our friendship predates your arrival, I'm afraid. I'm sure you've heard that I was absent for some time as well."

"Several years," she nodded. "How long are you staying?"

His sweats made it pretty obvious that he hadn't just arrived and wouldn't be leaving soon.

He shrugged. "We haven't decided yet. I'd like to be here for Tony, and I'm much more expendable for Wayne Enterprises than Tony for SI."

Her smile dimmed.

"Yes, I'm afraid these are turbulent times for SI."

"If it makes you feel any better, Tony has told me about some of his ideas for fields to expand in. I'm confident that Tony will make the company great again – better even, in some other industry."

She smiled tightly. "You know more than me then. I'm afraid I'll have to borrow him now. He's in his workshop?"

"Nope, the gym."

Bruce pointed down the corridor.

"Gym? What gym?!"

It was true, three days ago, there hadn't been one. Bruce grabbed the Gatorade he had come for and followed her rapidly moving high-heeled feet, allowing himself a second or two to admire her ankles and the sway of her hips. If she hadn't been in such a hurry, she would probably have caught him at it.

"Tony!" She shouted as soon as she had entered the gym. She quickly took in the new place: a boxing ring was sitting square in the middle, weights were by the wall, while the treadmill stood further in the back with the monitoring equipment still next to it because Bruce didn't want to overdo it when it wasn't safe.

"What are you doing?" She asked carefully, looking as if she was expecting to find Tony in the aftermath of a breakdown.

"I'm working out." He wiped the edge of the towel around his neck over his face and accepted the Gatorade Bruce passed him.

Pepper gave Bruce a skeptical look, the kind which conveyed that she knew who the guilty party here was. Bruce, as far as he was concerned, had no reason to feel guilty.

He turned his back and walked over to the windows overlooking the patio to give the two of them some privacy.

He still overheard Pepper's sharp but low voice reminding Tony about various upcoming meetings. She was gentler when she mentioned the board's expectations, which could be summarized as: 'Mr. Stark, fix this mess yesterday, i.e., go back to doing what you have always done best.' Two board members had resigned.

"I don't care," Tony burst out, and Pepper froze.

Bruce turned towards them to see Tony slump.

"They locked me out with Obie. If they can't handle SI changing, I don't need them on my board."

"Okay," Pepper agreed. "But you need replacements."

Tony shut his eyes briefly. "Nelly Tate and George Smith. Ask them."

"All right. Will you please come to the next board meeting then? It's Thursday."

"Yes, yes I'll come." After a pause, he asked: "Will that be all, Ms Potts?"

"That will be all, Mr. Stark."

And just like that, they seemed to be fine again. Pepper nodded at Bruce.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Bruce. Please enjoy your stay."

"Thank you, Pepper, I will."

"I just realized that we've left something out of your workout," Bruce spoke up after the door had shut behind her.

"What?" Tony asked, walking over to him.

Bruce was looking out the windows again towards the swimming pool. Tony made an indescribably noise, and when Bruce glanced towards him, he realized how pale the other man had become.

"I don't... think that's a good idea."

"How have you been showering? Is it waterproof?"

"Don't be stupid, of course it's waterproof!" Tony gritted his teeth. "A washcloth. I got a panic attack when I tried a shower. Don't get me started on baths."

"You know how afraid I was of bats as a kid?"

A look of surprise replaced tense defiance. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"And you chose a bat as a symbol?"

"I'm not afraid anymore."

They started small. Tony called it ridiculous. Of course he wasn't afraid of a glass of water. They sat on the patio, Tony with his shirt off, while Bruce poured the water, gently, as slowly as he could, over Tony's arm and further up to his shoulder and over his chest.

"What do you think will be more difficult, a shower or a bath?" Bruce asked.

"Bath," Tony replied after a while. He couldn't stand even the sight of a tub of water. "In the shower, I can use the hand spray."

"But you panic in the shower anyway?"

Tony nodded. It had been the water hitting him in the face unexpectedly which had triggered him the first time he had showered. Bruce could tell that it galled him. Bruce didn't pretend to be any better, but Tony had always needed to have control over his life. At times, he had trouble with people because he couldn't control them; they were unpredictable in ways machines weren't.

"Can you sit down by the pool and dip your legs in?"

Tony's jaw tightened, hating how Bruce turned everything into a gentle question. He didn't want to be reminded of what he couldn't do.

Bruce had changed into swim shorts and entered the pool, then swam up to where Tony's legs were in the water. He grasped Tony's hands, massaging the tightly closed fists and watching his face, his narrowed eyes, his tense muscles.

"Need to piss." Tony suddenly jumped up to go.

He nearly slipped on wet feet, but Bruce let him go. It was a warm day, and Bruce floated on his back for a bit before starting a lap. He gave Tony fifteen minutes, he was back in ten.

"Second attempt," he only said and dipped his legs in again.

"Okay?" Bruce asked.

Tony nodded.

It hurt watching him, because Bruce knew Tony. But if it took a year for Tony to not be afraid of water anymore, Bruce was going to try to be there while no one else was. Years ago, before Batman, he wouldn't have minded staying in Malibu forever. Now, he knew that he couldn't stay away from Gotham for too long.

Bruce splashed Tony a bit with water. First his thighs, then up at his chest covered by a t-shirt. Tony flinched when water droplets hit his face.

"Where are you?" Bruce asked.

Tony blew out a shuddering breath. "Malibu. It's June 13, 2008."

"Good. You're at home, sitting at the edge of your pool. Who am I?"

"Brucie bear."

"If you think that that's my actual name, I'm going to deduct ten points off your IQ."

Tony laughed.

"Twenty," Bruce threatened. He grabbed one of Tony's feet and started tickling. Tony thrashed, tried kicking him in the face in vain and splashed water everywhere, until he finally shouted:

"Bruce fucking Wayne, almost as rich as me!"

And that's when he fell into the water and, luckily, straight into Bruce's arms when he froze.

They ended up with their faces only inches apart, and before Tony could panic or Bruce could react, Tony leant in and kissed the other man.

It had been ages since they had last kissed. It felt a bit different, and yet familiar; Bruce didn't need long to fall back into old habits. He opened his lips against Tony's mouth and probed Tony's lips with his tongue until they opened. Tony's breath hitched against his mouth, and Bruce hoped it was something other than panic, but tightened his arms anyway and pressed Tony back into the side of the pool.

"Malibu," he said after breaking the kiss and before another one.

"No cave," Tony muttered between another two.

"My name's Bruce Wayne. I'm almost as rich as you." He might soon become richer than Tony, because SI was shaking on its foundation and Tony was going to have to invest a lot of his own money while Wayne Enterprises was doing very well with Fox as CEO.

He lifted Tony out of the water, the other man eying Bruce's shifting biceps, and climbed out behind him. Tony's arms were draped around Bruce's neck, and he wouldn't let go, so Bruce kept kissing Tony. He hadn't forgotten their original purpose, so he wet his hand in the pool and cupped Tony's cheek, drawing meaningless shapes on Tony's face. The other man didn't react, whether because he was being distracted or because he didn't mind water on his face like that. After a while, he stopped and pulled back.

"Is this really the right time?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, it is."

"I can't stay here. And I'd rather keep you as a friend, than lose that with another failed relationship."

"I'll visit you in Gotham. Things have changed. We've changed. I think it's worth trying again. Do you think you can handle being a superhero's boyfriend?"

"If you can handle being a vigilante's boyfriend? It's going to be tough. If anyone ever finds out what you are to me, they'll come after you."

"Same to you. And if anyone ever comes knocking here, I just invented this really cool armor; I swear, it will blow your socks off, feet attached."

Now Bruce remembered that Tony had always been the best at making him laugh. Tony swallowed the sound with another kiss, and this time Bruce didn't stop it, allowing the sensations to wash over him and wrapping his arms around Tony's waist, pulling them tighter together until the arc reactor was digging into his pectorals.

Bruce was sitting right at the edge of the pool with his legs folded underneath his thighs and his knees spread, and Tony had inched ever closer between his legs until Bruce felt both the arc reactor against his chest again.

It didn't take long for Bruce to decide that Tony's t-shirt was in the way, but he was a moment too late to realize how the other man froze when Bruce hiked it up to remove it. Tony stopped touching him and instead held one hand protectively over the arc reactor. Bruce knew it was an electromagnet. Tony hadn't explained the details, but Bruce had seen the shrapnel, and his knowledge of physics was good enough to see the point.

"I want to touch you," he assured him. "I don't care about the reactor."

Tony threw the shirt towards the deck chairs himself with irritated vigor. His mouth was harder against Bruce's, and he nipped his jaw line sharp enough to leave a bruise.

A rushing noise filled Bruce's ears, and it took Tony tensing up again for him to realize that the noise was caused by a helicopter flying over the mansion.

"Paparazzi," Tony growled.

They were both pros, they knew when it was too late to avoid getting your picture taken.

Bruce sighed. "Let's go inside."

Tony's grip tightened on him, keeping him from getting up.

"I don't care about the rest of it, but I can't let them get pictures of the reactor."

The other man nodded slowly in understanding. He wanted to throw the hovering helicopter a glare, but that would only give them the opportunity for better pictures, and tomorrow his defiant look would be plastered on dozens of covers at the supermarket checkout.

Tony's shirt was too far away for either of them to get it without pulling away from each other, and after a moment of consideration, Bruce wrapped his arms firmly around Tony's waist.

"Hold on."

They weren't far from the roofed part of the deck and the door to the house, which was a good thing because Bruce was certainly no weakling but carrying a grown man clinging to his chest was awkward to say the least.

"Those are gonna be interesting pictures," Tony remarked.

"No doubt."

"JARVIS, pull the blinds," Tony instructed once they crossed the doorstep and jumped down. "I think your stock might join mine at the dive club."

Bruce shrugged. "I'm not too worried. I'm not CEO."

The pictures were interesting, the headlines even more so, as various media outlets couldn't decide whether Tony was sleeping his way to the top for (more) money, or having a serious identity crisis, or finally coming out of the closet after having decided that being a big gay queen wasn't possible as a weapons manufacturer, a traditionally very conservative and predominantly male, heterosexual environment, which was allegedly why he'd shut down that division first. Bruce Wayne, to be quite honest, was mostly a side note, except in Gotham, where of course his "sudden" gay side was worth an actual headline of its own, alongside interviews with some of his former dates.

Pepper looked even more haggard when she came by the next day for an unplanned visit to discuss the situation.

"Remind them of 1987," Tony insisted, but Pepper only looked confused. Of course she hadn't known Tony then.

"You were young then, people could see it as only experimenting; now you're nearly forty, that's when they call it a midlife crisis," Bruce put in. And turning to Pepper, he explained: "This isn't the first time either of us got caught kissing a guy. We were even in a relationship with each other... a really long time ago."

"Eighteen years!" Tony reminded him.

"Eighteen, are you sure? I thought it was-"

"I'm sure," Tony interrupted in the kind of tone that usually ended any protests, whether from friends or members of the board. Bruce hid a smile. Of course it had been eighteen years ago, although that had been just the end of a relationship which had lasted two years. He suspected that it was still Tony's longest, and he was a little surprised, and flattered, that Tony remembered so readily.

"Do you want that to be public?" Pepper asked.

Bruce, after exchanging a look with Tony, shrugged. "Fine by me."

Tony looked grim. "Sure, whatever you think is best. You know, now would really be a good time to focus on my business rather than my sex life."

"You never minded before," Pepper told him bluntly. "If you want the media to focus on SI, then give them something to focus on."

"I'm bringing the arc reactor project to the board tomorrow."

"Good. We can present it afterwards to the press. Do you have anything visual?"

"Shouldn't there be some old photos of the reactor we had at the plant?"

"I'll look into it."

"I'm going back to Gotham tomorrow," Bruce spoke up.

Pepper looked surprised, then chagrined.

"I'm sorry, this probably isn't a great time for you-"

"Not your fault. It's not anyone's fault. Anyway, Tony needs to focus on his company, but we'll be seeing each other regularly."

For various reasons. Even if they hadn't gotten together again – and promptly gotten caught at it – Bruce was keeping a close eye on Tony.

Thursday morning they showered together. Tony clung to Bruce more tightly than when the paparazzi had appeared, and Bruce was going to have bruises and crescent-shaped marks from where Tony had dug his nails in too hard. But Tony didn't have a panic attack, and he let Bruce wash his hair. It was progress.

Happy drove them to the airfield, where their private planes awaited them parked next to each other in perfect harmony. A crowd of journalists hovered around the fence, but they were too far away from the airstrip to catch a glimpse of them.

"So, my bat, when will I see you again?"

"When you get your ass to Gotham," Bruce only replied. "And would you please not call me that in public?"

"Whatever you say, Brucie."

Thanks for reading. Reviews are always welcome.