Hello, everybody! Thank you for reading and reviewing. I received a question regarding whether Tony and Bruce were going to be just friends or more in this, and truth be told, I'm not quite sure yet. For now, I figure I'll let people read into it what they want while I think about it. Thanks again, and remember to review!

Disclaimer: The Avengers do not belong to me. At all. Whatsoever. I'm just lucky enough to borrow them.

Warning: Foul language. Will continue to have such language for the rest of the story, so don't be surprised.

"Ahem."

Bruce cocked his head slightly to the left. Wind tousling his rich chocolate curls, a faint smile played on his face. It had been a long time since anyone had been concerned enough about his well-being to risk approaching him when he was in a mood like this. Then again, he thought, he had never known anybody quite like Tony Stark.

The billionaire of mention took a step forward to sit next to his friend on the edge of the roof of Stark Towers. For him, what was revolutionary was the fact that he felt confident in calling Bruce a friend, even to himself. Other than Pepper, Bruce was the only person Tony felt really deserved that title. Not to say he wasn't fond of the other Avengers or the agents at SHIELD, but there was something special in the relationship between him and Bruce. Something he just couldn't put a finger on. Nobody, not Happy, not Rhodie, and not even Pepper had that same something (although, he thought, Pepper had a few special things of her own…). Which, of course, is why Tony was so worried about Bruce.

"So, you come here often?" Tony asked awkwardly, unsure of how to breach the topic of that day's events without riling Bruce up.

"Tony… I have to go." Bruce looked down at his hands, nervously wringing them. He hated that he always did that. It was a habit of his father's he'd picked up as a child, and Bruce wished he could eliminate every bit of his father from his genes.

Tony gave a weak smile. "You know, we've got over twenty bathrooms in Stark Towers. So no matter what time of day, you've always got a room available, complete with magazines, books, and even a television! God forbid you're ever in there long enough to need it, though."

Bruce exhaled slowly, trying to relieve the tension in his body. "You know that's not what I meant. I'm a danger to everyone around me. I just wish we hadn't had to find that out the hard way."

"Bruce, nobody blames you. You weren't in control, and you didn't mean to. Natasha will bounce back; she always does. Clint needs her to do all the hard jobs he's too lazy for. She'd never leave him hanging."

Bruce turned to look Tony in the eyes. His soft cocoa gaze had turned steely. "Do you think this is a joke? Natasha is in the hospital because of me, because I was stupid enough to think that the Hulk would act sweet and docile and help you guys take down the robots without any collateral damage. Because of my naïve faith, Natasha could die. Yet another life destroyed by the Hulk." Bruce turned away, trying to suppress the tears glistening in his eyes.

Tony grabbed Bruce on the shoulder and turned him back to face him. "Bruce, don't you say that. Don't you dare. Look, I may not be an expert on this whole comforting-a-friend-in-their-time-of-need thing, but I do know one thing. You are a good person, a hell of a lot better than me. Look at all the lives I've taken through Stark weapons! If you consider yourself bad after one mishap, what does that make me?"

Bruce shook off Tony's hand. "It's not the same."

"Yes it is!" Tony yelled. He was getting angry. "Why can't you see that?"

Bruce clenched his fists unconsciously. "Because it's not! You've never taken a human's life directly, with your own hands! And don't you dare say that it wasn't me, it was the Hulk, because you've made it a point to try and convince me to accept the Hulk as part of myself! That means I almost killed Natasha! There's nobody to blame but me, myself and I!" His breathing was heavy, and he felt the Hulk crawl under his skin, aching to come out and rip Tony apart.

Collecting himself, he relaxed his fists and continued. "Tony, my decision is made." With that, he stood and began to walk down to the elevator.

Tony was livid. Without thinking, he yelled out to Bruce. "Fine! Run away! You always said your dad was a coward, but I never thought you'd be a chip off the old block!" Immediately after saying this, he regretted it.

Bruce stopped and clenched his fists again, pausing for just a moment before continuing towards the elevator. He stepped in and gave a quick glance over his shoulder, as if to say something, before the doors closed shut and Tony was alone.

He buried his face in his hands before looking up and giving a scream of exasperation. He laid on his back, feet dangling off of the roof, staring at the stars. After what felt like an eternity, He heard footsteps approaching him. Heels. Damnit.

"So, what brilliant comeback did you use this time?" Pepper sat cross-legged next to Tony, taking off her bright red heels and placing them next to her.

"I told him he was like his old man." Tony's voice sounded distant and pained.

Pepper scrunched her eyebrows. "They not have a great relationship?"

Tony scoffed. "They made me and my dad look like the freakin' Brady Bunch." He sat up and looked at Pepper. "I just… he said he wanted to leave. Go back to some third world country and isolate again. I got so angry hearing him talk shit about himself and just lost it."

Pepper tilted her head to the side, giving Tony a look. "Did you apologize?"

"What was I supposed to say? God, Pepper, this is why you do all the sensitive stuff. People just don't listen to me when it comes to this kind of thing and I just lose my patience." He sighed. "I told him that today wasn't his fault, that he was a good person, way better than me, and-"

Pepper cut him off right there. "Seriously? Did you tell him he was better than you?"

Tony gave a look of confusion. "Yeah, you know, that I'd killed people too, and if he thought he was bad, what was I, and-"

"So while trying to reassure your friend of his worth, you managed to make the conversation all about you?" Pepper looked frustrated. At Tony's gaping expression, trying to explain himself, she plowed ahead. "Tony, you can't say that when comforting people. It makes them feel guiltier, never mind that it brings their focus off of themselves and onto you. It's just… you don't say that."

Tony groaned. "Why are people so confusing? Computers don't worry about these things. They just do their jobs and get along happily. I like things better when I just got to be a selfish ass and before you started trying to make me 'a better person'."

Pepper smiled. "Look, why don't you go back there and apologize? It can't make things any worse. Just listen and let him talk for a while."

After a minute of pondering, Tony's face lit up. "Yeah, and maybe I can bring him some of that crappy tea he's always drinking! He says it calms him down, or whatever. Of course, the taste of that stuff would make any normal person stressed, but hey, most normal people don't mutate into green beasts when they're anxious, so who am I to judge?" He stood up and made a beeline for the elevator.

"Hey, Tony!" Pepper yelled.

"Yeah?"

"Remember, this is still his choice. You can't make him stay if he doesn't want to."

Tony looked shocked. "You mean to suggest that someone would voluntarily move away to a place where I can't be found? Madness, Miss Potts, simply madness." With an evil grin, he shut the elevator doors and propelled down to the kitchen as fast as the little elevator could go.

About half an hour later, he was standing in front of Bruce's bedroom door, holding a pot of Bruce's favorite herbal tea. It would have been done faster, but Tony tried to make it himself first before surrendering the cooking to Pepper.

"Honey, I'm home!" he shouted. No reply. "Bruce?" Still nothing. "Hey, I just wanted to apologize for earlier. You know I'm what could be described as a 'drama queen' and I got a little carried away. But hey, I brought some of that tea you like? I figured maybe you could show me how to drink it like the Buddhists of old, or whoever you used to live with in Asia." At the silence, Tony frowned. "Jarvis, where is Bruce right now?" Again, no response. Bruce being quiet, Tony could understand, but it was always worrying when Jarvis didn't respond. "Jarvis?"

Tony knew something was wrong. He knocked on Bruce's door forcefully. "Damnit, Bruce, let me in!" After another moment, he took a step back and kicked the door as hard as he could. It sprung open. He smiled quickly. He knew it was a good idea to build weak doorframes. He loved kicking them in for effect when he was angry.

"Bruce?" Tony walked in slowly, examining the room around him. Everything seemed in order; the papers on his desk in a neat pile, the bed made and clothes laid out for sleep. Everything was perfect. But no matter how clean everything seemed, Tony couldn't shake the feeling that something had happened. Clearly there had been no Hulk out, or Tony would have heard. But what happened to Jarvis? Bruce was a nuclear physicist, not a computer programmer. There was no way he could have turned Jarvis off. And Jarvis was powered by an arc reactor similar to Tony's; even if something did go wrong with the vibranium power source, Jarvis would have alerted him before he lost power. Someone had to have hacked into the AI's mainframe, something very difficult to do. And then came the matter of Bruce's disappearance. Did he leave? Nothing appeared packed. But still, he could just buy new things on the way to the airport if he had to.

Tony was saddened by the fact that Bruce would even consider leaving without saying goodbye, although he'd never admit it out loud. Yes, I'd been a jerk, Tony though as he walked towards the doorframe, but he still shouldn't have- He froze.

Sitting upon the table by the door was a picture of Bruce's mother and him as a child. According to Bruce, it was the only one he had, and it was one of his treasures. He would never leave without it.

Tony's face grew dark. He knew what had happened, but couldn't seem to grasp it. They were the Avengers, they were untouchable! Nothing was supposed to happen to them! But the haunting truth lay before him.

Someone had kidnapped Bruce.