The next nine days were actually pretty decent. Tony left Bruce alone in the lab most of the time, they ate home cooked meals and ordered take-out to eat over soapstone tables and glass lab benches. Tony could probably use some more sleep, though. Whatever, though. Not really priority as far as he was concerned. Far more important things were on the agenda.

"Break time, Dr. Jekyll."

"Mm?" Bruce looked up from his work, one end of his glasses between his teeth. His curls were in awry and stuck out at odd ends that practically begged for some tugging. He skipped a button on his shirt, and half of it wasn't even tucked in. The lab coat, though. That was endearing.

Tony smiled at him. "You've got that whole mad scientist thing going on. You should take a break," he said, looking at one of the many glowing screens. "Come on. We're going out."

Bruce removed the frames from his mouth and grinned a little. "Okay, fine. Where are we going?" He sat back, nearly falling before he realized there was no back to the stool he'd chosen to sit on.

"You'll see."

"Hmm, to trust or not to trust..."

"Well, you've put up with me for this long, so I'd say trusting is pretty good here. Would I ever steer you wrong?"

"Well, there was that one time..."

"Shhh," Tony said, placing a finger to Bruce's lips. "We don't need to talk about that. This is totally different." Bruce rolled his eyes and puckered his lips against the pad of Tony's finger, causing the engineer to grin and waggle his eyebrows. "Good day?"

"Hoping it's about to be one," Bruce murmured.

After Bruce had fixed his disheveled look, which was after Tony had effectively made it worse by messing with the scientist's unruly curls with all that tugging and playing and kissing that was really actually quite nice, they made their way to the elevator, only to be met by the clicking of heels and an accusing voice asking, "Where do you think you're going?"

Tony sighed and turned around, his hand still holding Bruce's, to face Pepper Potts, who had one hand on her hip and the other clutching an official-looking Stark Industries clipboard. "We're going out, Mom. Don't worry, I'll be home before curfew."

Red lipsticked lips formed a frown. "You have homework."

"I'll do it later. Bruce and I are going out."

Bruce gaze lowered from Pepper's face to the floor.

"Out where?" Her arms were now crossed over a sleek black suit that was accompanied by a matching pencil skirt.

Tony shrugged. "Just out."

Bruce glanced up then, and Pepper's eyes were trained on him, asking him to tell her information he didn't know. "He wanted to get me out of the lab..."

The CEO's gaze softened. "Okay, that's fine." She turned back to Tony." But you have homework to do later. I'd leave it in your workshop, but the password changed mysteriously for the third time this week."

Strolling toward the elevator, Bruce in tow, Tony called behind, "TheInvincibleIronMan. No spaces."

The two men stepped into the pet store and were met right away with various noises and smells. Tony wrinkled his nose a little at the wall full of windows where dogs peered eagerly from their cages, rats scurried around within plastic barriers, and hamsters ran in the same wheel over and over and over again like they expected it to take them someplace new. Bruce hated seeing the animals caged up. A chocolate lab with big sad eyes stared at him and whined. "I know how you feel, man. I'm sorry."

Tony strode ahead as they made their way to the cats, who promptly began hissing at Bruce and cowering away, fur standing on end.

"What the…"

Bruce swallowed and edged away from the enclosure windows with a grimace. "Predatory pheromones."

Tony's eyes widened a fraction. "Oh. Do you… want to leave? I mean…"

"No, it should be... I'm fine."

Yeah, but if that cats didn't like him then what the hell were they even doing in a pet store? Whatever. If Bruce said it was fine, it was going to have to be fine. "Okay, if you're sure."

Bruce nodded. "I'm sure." He wasn't going to ruin this.

Tony's eyes lit up as a small furball peered up at him from the meet-and-greet section. The attending clerk, a perky brunette woman, was working with an older couple who was looking for a cat that was old enough to be mellow and sleep calmly at the foot of the bed but young enough that they could point a piercing laser beam at its paws and watch it squirm. So most of the cats were left unattended in a five by five waist-height cubicle. "Aww, look at 'im. He's so cute." Tony bent down to pet the little creature that was brushing against his leg.

Bruce blushed as he watched his boyfriend's adorable little display. But when Tony tried to nudge the kitten Bruce's way, it hissed and darted away and Bruce was no longer crouching. He tried to look casual. Like it really wasn't a big deal and everything was fine. There were few animals that had ever actually liked Bruce, and the ones that had were nice to have for the time being, even if that time was cut short by interrupting factors like military generals.

Tony and shifted closer to Bruce, who was scanning the room and its unyielding commotion. A new, smaller kitten sniffed gawkily in Bruce's direction, wide orbs admiring the doctor curiously. Tony scooped the glorified piece of lint off the floor, and it promptly squirmed until it was in proper position to climb up to his shoulder.

"Here. Take this one." Tony practically thrust a small black cat into Bruce's arms, which caught the scientist by surprise. But then the little thing nuzzled close to his neck and purred as he stroked its soft fur, scratching behind its too-big ears.

"Hey, little guy," he said softly. Its little golden eyes stared up at him in wonder and contentment, only sliding closed when Bruce's finger met the little gray stripe that ran down the middle of its head.

Tony's mouth twisted in thought. "Yep. That's the one," he announced.

"Hmm?" Bruce looked at him quizzically.

"What do we name him? Lucky?"

"How original," Bruce mused playfully.

"Well, what do you wanna call him?"

Bruce thought for a moment and got an idea. "Schrodinger?"

"Oh, yeah! I like that." Tony smiled widely. His little nerd. Not that they both weren't geniuses, but still.

"Oh! No, don't-" Bruce sighed heavily as yet another empty beaker crashed to the floor, along with two pairs of tongs, a small stack of paper, and Bruce's stress ball, which rolled and bounced across the room, happy to be freed from its perch on some stupid Hulk action figure Tony had bought and presented to Bruce in the manner someone would present the world with a cure for cancer.

Schrodinger hopped off the counter and scurried away from the scene of her crime. The peppy brunette employee, whose name had turned out to be Kathy, had kindly informed them that Schrodinger was a she, rather than a he. But the name stuck.

"Hey, I saw that!" Bruce couldn't help but smile as the kitten peered at him from inside an empty delivery box. "Hey, Schrodinger. You want a treat? Wanna treat?" Was Bruce using baby talk? Oops. That was weird.

Schrodinger crept out from his hiding place and approached the treats, which she happily nibbled from Bruce's hand and licked the crumbs with a small, rough, pink tongue.

He was quite enjoying having the little creature around, though. Even if it was against his better judgment. One, for letting Schrodinger in the lab, and two for, well, a much... greener reason. But Tony had convinced him, as he so often did, that this was a good idea and everything was fine. So Bruce pushed aside his paranoia as best he could, ignoring the worry that niggled in the back of his mind along with the separate consciousness that resided there.

He was slowly gaining a normal life. He had a near-normal relationship, he had a normal job (as promised, SHIELD had left him to his own affairs again), he did normal things like eat out and shop for groceries and sleep in a bed, and everything was just, well, normal. He was relaxing. This was good. His control was intact like that year in Calcutta, and the last two incidents he had were likely flukes. The optimism, though. That was really new.

He and Tony worked together and ate together and talked and watched movies together. They flirted and fought and kissed and bickered. They laughed at each other's jokes and stayed for the pain. Bruce had found someone again. And for that, more than nearly anything else, he was grateful.