Tony awoke abruptly from a deep sleep, his head pounding. He grumbled and lifted his head from the desk, quickly realising he'd fallen asleep in the lab, the dregs of a whiskey bottle on the table beside him. He felt groggy, a headache burning through his head, his stomach turning gently, but not enough to cause him to throw up. He stood up slowly.

"JARVIS, what time is it?" He groaned, putting a hand to his head.

"9am, sir. And you may wish to know that Dr Banner hasn't left yet." The AI responded. Tony's eyes widened and he let out a groan. He'd almost forgotten about their fight, but it all flooded back to him, all the cruel words he spat at Bruce. He had to fix this.

"Where is he?"

"In his room, sir. He is packing. If you are hoping to reconcile I suggest you do it quickly."

"Yeah well, thanks for that JARVIS." He grunted sarcastically, straightening himself up and grabbing a quick coffee from the machine before heading out of the lab, towards the bedroom. How could he have let himself be such an idiot? Why didn't he run after Bruce the night before, sort everything out then? Now he'd have to face something he'd dreaded every day for the last 6 months – Bruce packing with intent to leave. Tony had suspected the day would come, but he assumed it would be Bruce's self esteem that told him he couldn't stay, and he'd flee to some foreign country. But that wasn't the case. Tony had pushed Bruce away himself, and if he couldn't convince Bruce to stay, he would never forgive himself.

Within a few minutes, Tony had finished his coffee, and threw it into a bin as he reached the hallway with the bedrooms. He sighed to himself before opening the handle of the room and shuffling inside. "Hey." He spoke softly, walking in to see Bruce hunched over a half-filled suitcase that was resting on their bed.

"What do you want, Tony?" Bruce asked, no anger or coldness in his voice, just sadness and defeat.

"I don't want you to go, I know that much." He spoke firmly, walking around the bed to face Bruce. He saw that his eyes were red and swollen, from lack of sleep and crying. Tony felt the pang of guilt hit him again.

"It's too late, Tony. Pepper organised the jet last night. It'll be here in fifteen minutes." He sniffed. Tony looked at him again, his lip trembling.

"Bruce, I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean any of what I said. You know I don't want you to go. Please don't leave me." He said frantically, the words spilling out of his mouth, tears forming in his eyes. Bruce looked at him for a moment, before shaking his head and looking away.

"Tony, I can't stay. Not after that. I... You were right. I'm dragging this out far longer than I need to... And I suppose it proves that my condition still won't let me trust anyone." He sighed, his voice quavering where the tears were coming again.

"Bruce, don't say that. I was wrong. It was all my fault, it always is. Don't blame yourself for this. You're a brilliant person, a perfect person. I don't deserve you." Tony mumbled, a single tear falling from his eye. "I just... I want you to stay. Please don't leave me. Please."

"Tony, I love you. But you have needs that I can't fulfil, and it's not fair to make you wait. I think it's better that we call this off before the temptation to be with other people comes along." He shrugged, his heart breaking as he watched Tony cry.

"No, no, Bruce, don't say that. I... I don't want to call this off. I want to be with you. I can wait, I promise. I've been lousy. I know I have. I always have been. But I want to make this work. Just give me a chance Bruce, I can-"

"Tony, I just-"

"No, hear me out. Just a few weeks. Like a trial. And if I'm still lousy, and terrible, you can leave. No questions asked. Just... don't give up on me. I never gave up on you." He pleaded, the tears falling rapidly now. Bruce had to say he was touched. He'd never seen Tony get so worked up about anything like this. Watching Tony cry was heartbreaking.

"I- I don't know, Tony. A lot can change in a matter of weeks. What if things get worse?" He sighed.

"Then you have every right to leave. If I'm still lousy then you can go, and I will have deserved it. Just... give me another shot. I'm useless without you, Bruce. I don't want to push you away. I need you. And I love you." Tony sniffled. "You... You don't have to make a decision right now." He grumbled, turning around towards the door. "We can talk about this later. Just promise me that if you do leave, you'll say goodbye."

"Of course I will." He said, giving Tony a meek smile before he left the room, leaving Bruce with the suitcase and his thoughts. He hated himself more than usual. He'd made Tony cry, and that made him hate himself even more. Why did he always let his demons drag him down? Tony had given him everything he could ever need or want, and he shoved that in his face because he pitied himself too much. Even if he had good reason to, he didn't want to push Tony away. But what about the Other Guy? He asked himself. Screw the other guy! I love Tony!

Within a few moments, he found himself rushing out of the door after Tony.

"Wait!" He shouted, making the billionaire jump. Tony spun around in an instant, facing Bruce.

"Yes?" He murmured, a glint of hope in his eye.

"I'm not leaving. I can't. I can't leave you. Not like this. I love you too much Tony. You're the only person I've ever managed to trust and I'm not going to let us throw this away." Bruce spoke, moving closer to Tony a moving a piece of his hair out of his face.

"So you'll give the trial a shot?" He smiled.

"No. Screw the trial. We know what we're getting into. We're going straight back to relationship status." He grinned, putting an arm around Tony's waist and hugging him tightly.

"I'm so sorry. For everything." Tony murmured into Bruce's ear, a hand on the back of his head, soothingly massaging his curls.

"It's fine, Tony. We were both wrong. I'm sorry." Bruce smiled, tears falling from his eyes as he held Tony tight, pulling away from the hug to kiss him softly. Tony kissed him back, being careful to keep things very chaste and gentle, but before he knew what was happening, Bruce had kissed him forcefully, putting his tongue into Tony's mouth, making the billionaire's eyes widen.

"Whoa... what?" He laughed when he pulled away. "I thought this was what we were avoiding?"

"Rules were made to be broken Tony." Bruce smirked, before narrowing his eyes at him and biting his lip. "Now how do you feel about make-up sex?" Tony raised an eyebrow and flashed him a grin.

"I think we're gonna have to move that suitcase." He smiled, wrapping his arm around Bruce and walking with him back to the bedroom.


A/N: And that's it! See, everything worked out fine, stop complaining. I hope you all enjoyed this little two shot, please review, I love reviews, bad or good. Thanks for reading!