"So, Pepper has me scheduled to leave this afternoon. I'm supposed to be in Monaco until Monday negotiating some over-seas contracts. In all honesty, it's going to be boring as all hell, but she keeps insisting it's necessary. And, don't tell her I said this, she's almost never wrong."
Bruce looks up from his tablet, and raises his eyebrow a fraction of an inch. "Okay."
"Well, see, I had an idea, if you were interested, for an experiment or two when I get back." Tony looks slightly nervous, and that alone makes Bruce wonder what Tony's plotting. His voice is polite, but cautious when he asks, "What kind of experiments?"
Tony grins a little, "Nothing major, just a few ideas about the Hulk." Bruce bristles, and if Tony had been paying attention to him, instead of the cell phone in his hands, he might have seen Bruce's reaction, but he wasn't paying attention so he didn't. Just kept going. "They'd be pretty simple. Nothing painful. I've just been doing a little research and toying with a few ideas here and there. You don't have to if you don't want to, just thought you might be interested."
Frankly, Bruce didn't want to. At all. He'd rather scratch his own eyes out than be on the receiving end of any more Hulk experiments, having been strapped to enough lab tables in his life. But this was Tony. And Tony had been kinder to him than... anyone, ever. He had given Bruce so much and Bruce knew he owed him a debt of gratitude. It couldn't be that bad. It wasn't like Tony was going to want to dissect him or anything majorly crazy like that. And whatever tests Tony ran on him, MRI, blood tests, whatever, he'd keep the results to himself. Bruce was sure of that at least. With Tony's attitude about sharing... anything, really, Bruce didn't have to worry about the information ending up in the wrong hands. He shivers slightly at the idea of tests, needles, microscopes, "cures," but gives a small smile anyway, when Tony looks up from his phone.
"Yeah, okay." He says, voice calm and deceptively even.
"Wonderful. Get started... Tuesday morning?" Tony slides his phone into the back pocket of his jeans.
"Uh, yeah. That'd be fine." Bruce says and Tony grins, clapping Bruce on the shoulder as he walks out of the lab. "Fantastic."
Bruce heaves a sigh. He really should've known better.
Three days. Three solid days of anxiety. Of being in the lab alone, the Hulk gliding just beneath his skin, all the time. He wouldn't appear though, Bruce was confident in that. He knew the Hulk only showed up in the face of anger or danger. Bruce wasn't feeling angry or threatened. His heart didn't feel like it was speeding up out of control. It just felt... hurt.
He tried to focus on his project, he did, but he ended up reading the same sentence in the test results nine times before he had to admit all the stress of worrying was making it impossible to concentrate. And that was on the second day.
The third day consisted more of Bruce sitting in the lab trying to read a novel. Failing, of course. He read the book with all the accuracy he managed on the test results, which was none. All he could think about was Tony. Bruce had believed him, had trusted his faith in him. He thought Tony respected him more than this. He thought Tony was one of the few people in the world who didn't see Bruce as diseased and damaged.
He was wrong.
And now that he had Bruce feeling like he owed him, he was cashing in. Tests. Tests to cure this sickness in him, to finally rid the world of this wretched disease and never have to worry about the beast ever again. Bruce felt his chest ache, would swear his heart was breaking, but that was too maudlin a thought, even for him. He feels stupid for ever thinking he could escape this kind of thing. People would always want to get him under a microscope and solve the riddle.
He should've known better than to think he was actually lucky enough to be accepted so easily.
Tuesday morning, 6:00am.
Bruce takes a deep breath and steps into the lab. Potential scenarios running around in his head driving him crazy. MRIs, CAT scans, ultrasounds, blood tests. He wonders which Tony would ask for first. How many times he would want to repeat each one. What kind of solutions and ideas he'd come up with to cure the Hulk. Because that was the best case scenario; the one Bruce was gripping onto the hardest. That Tony would only want to destroy the Hulk, not attempt to re-create him. He didn't think Tony would be stupid enough to try, but he knew how over-confident the billionaire could be when presented with a new challenge. The Hulk shifted under his skin, antsy and nervous, anticipating danger and Bruce tries his best to push him back and squelch the feeling. Mainly, it just leaves him feeling nauseous.
He looks around the lab, expecting to see new complicated equipment, medical equipment, anything to give him an idea of what's coming. Nothing is out of place, or seemingly new. Just Tony in jeans and soft dark t-shirt with the logo of some band Bruce doesn't recognize, arc-reactor glowing a steady blue through it; standing at a monitor, editing a screen-full of computer code Bruce isn't even going to pretend he understands. Tony glaces up, and as soon as he sees Bruce, lights up.
"Hey, you're here."
"Yeah," Bruce says, blandly, "just like we said."
"Of course, should've known better. Doctor Banner is not the kind of person to ignore a scheduled arrangement, now, is he? Maybe if we chopped off a limb or two but really, that wouldn't do anyone much good, would it? All right, if you'll follow me..."
Tony trails off just enough to led Bruce into a small circular room in the lab, maybe 20 feet in diameter. Bruce can't help but notice the walls of the room are clear glass, the room blending in with it's surrounding enivornment, sleek and perfected, and Bruce can't see the point of isolating the space. The glass wasn't going to be thick enough to hold the Hulk if he came out, Bruce is positive of that.
The only equipment in the room is an EEG machine, next to an overstuffed brown chair that looks fifty kinds of comfortable and one of Tony's posh, rolling office chairs. To say Bruce is confused is putting it lightly. This is not what he was expects and he wonders what Tony could possibly be thinking. Tony steps into the space, confident as ever, sits in the office chair and starts fiddling with the machine. He starts, Bruce assumes, booting it up and calibrating the settings on the screen, while continuing to ramble. Bruce stands in the doorway, trying to figure out how Tony plans to conduct any kind of experiment with just an EEG machine.
"Welcome to the Hulk Room. Completely soundproof." Bruce nods. That explains why he bothered to section this space off to begin with. "No outside distractions, JARVIS can control the enviromental standards, if you need them changed, lights, temperature, that kind of thing." Bruce nods again, like he understands, but in reality, he's so far away from understanding, it almost hurts. "In fact, JARVIS, lower the lights... fifteen percent."
The lights in the lab dim slightly, making the place seem more warm and less clinical. Bruce supposes it should help him relax, but it doesn't. He's not really sure what could at this point. Tony, on the other hand, is totally comfortable, still tinkering with the machine and chatting away.
"I've been doing research, and I've come up with a few methods I think might have some effect. There's simple method, concentration, mindfulness, something called Yoni Mundra, which frankly sounds insane, but hey, worth a shot. I figure it can't hurt to at least try. If we come up with one method that seems to work, we might be able to modify it until we get more significant results. I'm going to be monitoring your heart-rate and-"
"Tony." Bruce says, trying to slow Tony down enough to understand what in the world he could possibly be talking about. Tony doesn't seem to hear him, or if he does, completely ignores him.
"JARVIS is monitoring your lesser vitals for analyzing later. We'll be able to compare them and-"
"Tony!" Bruce is a little louder, a little more forceful and that gets a reaction.
"What?" Tony asks, handing finally stilling, looking at Bruce with mild annoyance.
"Different methods of what?"
"Mediation. What else?" Tony asks, brow furrowing in confusion as he turns his chair towards Bruce.
"Med-meditation?" Bruce can feel the head-ache starting at the base of his skull and he really wishes he knew what was going on right now.
"Yeah, you know, busting into your skull, figure out where the Hulk lives, maybe have a little chat. Be friends?" Tony says, like it should be bleedingly obvious what this is all about and Bruce is just being dense to irritate him.
"You... you're trying to communicate with the Hulk?"
"Nooo, I'm trying to get you to communicate with him." Tony says, still using that purposefully patient voice.
"But... I- Why?" Bruce asks, and Tony shrugs his shoulders.
"Well, I think it's pretty obvious waging war against him hasn't made things easier for anyone, and he doesn't seem to be going away. Maybe making peace with him is a better solution."
"You want to make friends with him?" Bruce asks. The realization of what Tony actually intends is making it's way through the fog of confusion in Bruce's head and he just knows he has to be misunderstanding.
"Essentially, yeah." Tony says, smirking.
"Oh." The confusion is totally gone now, and Bruce isn't sure what to think anymore. Too blind-sided and shocked to figure out how he feels about this.
"Why? What did you think I was going to do when I said 'experiments?'" Tony asks, raising a single eye-brow in a 'what-is-wrong-with-you' kind of expression.
Bruce tries to fight back his guilty look and come up with an acceptable excuse. He doesn't want Tony to know what he's been thinking, ashamed he ever thought Tony would want what Bruce was expecting him to. But he knows it's too late to try and cover it up when Tony's face falls, his voice quiet and sad when he speaks.
"Don't answer that."
Bruce hangs his head, removes his glasses with one hand and rubs his eyes with the other, biting back tears of relief, and gratitude at the fact that Tony never wanted to cure him, was researching ways to help him make peace with the Hulk and the bone-aching guilt he feels for assuming Tony wanted something much crueler. Bruce starts when he feels a hand on his arm, tugging his hand away from his face.
"Hey, hey, look at me." Tony says, voice soft and coaxing. It makes Bruce want to cry more, but he doesn't.
Instead, Bruce looks up at Tony, and he's shocked at the sympathy, determination and affection he sees in Tony's eyes.
"I would never ask that of you, Bruce. If tests like... that are something you want to do, I'd be glad to help. And you know JARVIS would be more than happy to guard anything you wanted him to, even from me, if you ask him; but I will never, ever ask you to do anything like that, okay?" Tony is still speaking in that soft, gentle voice and it makes Bruce feel better and worse at the same time.
Bruce nods slowly, and slides his glasses back on. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"
Tony hand slides down his arm and squeezes Bruce's hand, "No, it's okay. I understand, I get it. I do. What they did, it... it'd make anyone paranoid, and I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am that any of the shit they used on you had my name on it."
Bruce starts to protest, tell Tony that he doesn't blame him for anything that happened, but Tony raises a hand to stop him and continues.
"I don't know how long it will take, or if it'll ever actually happen, but someday, eventually, I want you to understand and believe me when I tell you that you are completely safe with me. You always will be." Bruce starts to argue, tell Tony that he does feel safe, that he's felt safer with Tony than anyone else in a long time; but then he thinks of how suspicious he'd been of Tony's motivations and what he assumed Tony wanted from him. Suddenly, Bruce feels small and sad. Instead, he shuts his eyes again and nods.
Tony tugs him into a hug, his arms going around Bruce's shoulder and pulling him forward. Bruce tenses for a second and then consciously relaxes and goes with it. His hands come up to wrap around Tony's waist, grip at the worn fabric of his T-shirt and and he rests his head on Tony's shoulder.
They stand like that in silence, Bruce feeling more at peace than he has in years and he can't help but think about how much Tony means to him, how much of a friend he's been. Bruce isn't sure he deserves him, but he's glad for him all the same. At this point, he's not sure what he'd do without him. After a long moment, Tony pulls back and his hands slide down Bruce's arms making him shiver slightly. He steps away and sits down back in the rolling chair.
"So, are you okay with this, or do you want to stop completely? You don't owe me anything, you know, and I'd understand if you want to get away from all of this." Tony says gesturing at the whole room, his tone patient and understanding, but Bruce gives him a small smile and shakes his head.
"No, this is okay." He steps into the room and closes his eyes as he sits down into the over-stuffed, plush chair. "It's really, really okay."