"If you're not going to do the talking, then I guess I'll have to do it for you."

Pepper had made her way down to Tony's workshop some time after she'd left Bruce's lab, and now found herself standing in the middle of blaring music and discarded tools, staring at the grease-stained hem of Tony's shirt since the top half of him was shoved under a car. She didn't particularly enjoy that she'd spent most of her day tracking those two down, but she had to get this whole 'talking about it' thing over with at some point.

"Look, Tony, I know we were both edgy the other day and maybe said some things we didn't mean, but I want to figure this out, okay? I want to work with you on this, so will you please just look at me?"

There was a sharp clang as a metal wrench hit the floor beside where Tony was under the car. So much time had passed since he'd spoken at all, and he wasn't even sure if he knew how to form words anymore. Even he didn't really know why he wasn't speaking to anyone, not even Jarvis, but instead of harping on it and trying to figure out his own screwed up coping methods, he just slid out from under the car and sat up to look at Pepper.

"What do you want me to say, Pep?" he asked, his mouth feeling strange around the words. "That I'm sorry and I was an asshole and it's all better now? That I've thought about it and turned over a new leaf and that I'm ready to be World's Best Dad?"

"Well, 'sorry' would be nice," Pepper muttered, half to herself. She heard Tony give a muffled humph in reply as he pulled himself up and wandered over to his workbench, but she did her best to ignore it. "But no, I want you to…" She sighed, not really sure how to approach it. Usually she didn't have any problem being blunt with Tony, but this—this was different. "I want you to tell me what you're afraid of with this so we can work it out."

Tony paused for a second so brief that Pepper would have missed it if she hadn't been watching the motion of him wiping the grease off his hands with an equally stained towel. "What makes you think I'm afraid of anything?" he replied, tossing the towel aside but still refusing to meet Pepper's eyes.

"You get quiet when you're scared."

Tony clenched his jaw and felt his muscles go tense, but somehow forced himself to relax. He didn't want this to turn out the same way it had a few days prior. "I'm not scared," he said, being sure to emphasize it, "maybe I'm just worried about how we're going to raise it decently with both of us being so busy all the time. We both have careers, you know. Especially you. What are you gonna do, bring the baby to work?"

"Oh, please." Pepper fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Give me a break. You know I can handle that, so just spill what you're really worried about?"

Tony balked, but made an effort to hide the hesitation by finding a few more tools to wipe down or throw into the box. It probably didn't work, because Pepper of all people knew that Tony never organized his tools, but he decided to make a charade of it anyway while he figured out how or if he even wanted to say what was on his mind. "I'm with Bruce," he said, stupidly, because even if Pepper wasn't as brilliant as she was, she definitely knew that. "I'm not with you. I'm with him."

Pepper quirked an eyebrow. She felt like she knew where this was going, but she wasn't going to push it. "And?"

"And," Tony said, actually trying for once to keep the mockery out of his voice because this situation really didn't need it, "I'm in love with him. I'm really, really, so completely in love with him. And I was going to tell him that I'm in love with him, pretty soon actually, but then you came along again and suddenly you're pregnant and it's mine." He was already saying too much. This right here, he realized, was exactly why he'd been silent for three days straight, but no matter how hard he was kicking himself for saying it he couldn't stop himself from turning to face Pepper and continuing. "And now I'm remembering that those feelings I had for you never really went away. Not totally. So maybe I'm just a little worried that those feelings are going to end up hurting him."

"Tony." Pepper shook her head slightly, taking a few steps closer. "I know you're with him now. I don't—I'm not going to use this to try and meddle in your relationship. That's not what this is about." She would, however, be lying if she said that she hadn't thought about those feelings either. Still, even after all they'd been through and how much it still hurt, she was set on convincing herself that moving on is what had to happen.

Except that the whole baby thing kind of threw a kink into the plan, and Tony very obviously agreed that it wasn't supposed to happen like this. This confusion, the pain, these seemingly irreconcilable differences weren't how they were supposed to start a family. Their child wasn't supposed to be brought into the world like this.

"I know that's not what it's about," Tony replied, "but that doesn't mean it's not going to become about that." It was like all those words he'd withheld for days were suddenly all spilling out at once. God, he really needed to stop talking again. "Because all those things, everything we've been through—all those feelings, what we had, that doesn't just stop, Pepper. We broke up. I fell in love with Bruce. I know. But…" He sighed, unable to wipe the hopeless look off his face as he stared back at Pepper. "It doesn't just stop."

Pepper's heart had begun to thump so hard in her chest that she could have sworn she could hear it. The way Tony was looking at her should have made her nervous, and she was, but maybe not as much as she should have been. "Tony…"

"Don't 'Tony' me."

Before Pepper could even begin to say anything else, Tony's mouth was hot against hers and whatever words had been on her mind started to melt away under the pressure. At first, the small part in the back of her brain that could still think wondered if she should pull away, put an end to this obviously wrong thing that was happening—but it just felt like something she'd found herself missing for so long, even wrongfully so, and even if she wanted to stop, she just… couldn't.

Even Tony's mind couldn't catch a break in the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions clouding his judgment. He was too focused on letting his body tell him what to do, feeling every contour of Pepper's lips against his and running his hands over every curve of her hips that he'd memorized thousands of times before. Kissing her felt like home, and even with the man he loved only a few floors away, Tony's arms were so comfortably locked around her that he wasn't sure he'd be able to let go when Pepper was the one to finally break the contact.

For a moment after the kiss had ended, Pepper just stood there in Tony's arms as they both breathed the same air. Her lips stung from the contact, and that in combination with the heat of his body still pressed against hers almost made her feel like she was finally back where she wanted to be. She couldn't be, though. She couldn't be here, couldn't be close to him and kissing him like time hadn't passed or like they were still a couple celebrating their unborn child. She couldn't be here, but mostly she couldn't do this to Bruce.

"I think you should go start talking to your boyfriend again," Pepper said quietly once she'd regained her voice. "Maybe tell him how in love with him you are."

She pulled her hand away from where it had ended up on Tony's chest, and after an ever-so-brief glance into his eyes, forced herself to turn on her heel and walk away.

Despite how well it had worked in the past, Tony's cars and tools weren't nearly enough of a distraction right now. He'd stood in the same spot for a few minutes after Pepper left before he rolled himself back underneath the car, but he could still smell her in on his clothes and taste her on his lips, and eventually that was just too overbearing for him to stay in that room.

He was sure to avoid any areas of the tower that could possibly be occupied by people on his way back to his bedroom, which in theory seemed like a good idea, but in practice it just gave him more time alone to think of how catastrophically he'd just screwed up. And the worst part wasn't even that he'd actually done it in the spur of the moment—he wished he could say that the kiss had been an impulse decision, but that would be going too easy on himself, taking the quickest escape route. He wished he could say that he hadn't been thinking about being close to her far before she'd even come to him with the news about the baby, but that was also too much of a lie, and still not even the worst of it.

No, the worst part was that he'd leaned in and kissed her after too much time spent thinking about her, all while the image of Bruce's face hung over his mind.

Because this wasn't something Tony did to Pepper or did to himself. This was something he did to Bruce, and that was him going as hard on himself as he possibly could.

Eventually Tony had to face the real Bruce when he finally shuffled into his bedroom, but instead of seeing his boyfriend's warm, careworn eyes, he was greeted by Bruce's back hunched over the computer at the desk in the corner. For a split second, Tony very seriously considered walking back out the door, but that option disappeared when he realized that Bruce was definitely aware of his presence.

"I see you've decided to join the world of the living," Bruce said, turning his head away from his laptop to give Tony a glance and a smile. Tony was almost surprised at Bruce's casual demeanor before he realized that what happened was still just between him and Pepper, and that Bruce had no idea how much Tony had just hurt him.

"Yeah." Tony kicked his shoes off into the corner of the room, a messy, bad habit that he knew Bruce hated—but if acting like his usual disorganized and generally careless self made Bruce think it was all back to normal, Tony was fine doing it. Make it natural, Tony thought, then he won't suspect anything. "The whole creature-of-the-night deal isn't great for my complexion."

Bruce swiveled his chair around to fully face Tony, the edge of his mouth still quirked up in amusement. "And since when has that stopped you before?"

After a second of almost uncertain pause, Tony's answer came as a few quick steps forward and the press of his lips to his boyfriend's, and after a brief moment of surprise at the sudden action, Tony was relieved to feel Bruce shift forward and press back into the contact. They broke apart after a minute to get air, and it only took a second of impassioned eye contact for Tony to pull Bruce to his feet and walk them back towards the bed, both of them falling back onto it without hesitation.

Bruce's lips found Tony's neck as quickly as they'd fallen into each other, and he left a trail of hot, open-mouthed kisses down the exposed skin before he paused and chuckled softly. Tony made a noise that was about halfway between pleasure and curiosity, so Bruce was forced to stop and answer. "You smell like motor oil," he explained, his lips brushing against Tony's collarbone, right beside the edge of his still-stained shirt.

Tony just hummed indifferently in reply, turning his head to press his nose into Bruce's hair while his arms worked on pulling the man closer and firmer against him. "You smell like tea," he muttered in reply.

"Still better than motor oil." Bruce lifted his head, and after a quick smirk, punctuated his point with a harsh kiss that almost left Tony's lips bruised. Tony's heart fluttered nervously in his chest as he wondered if oil was the only thing Bruce could smell on him, and he hoped hard for a short moment that the other man couldn't smell Pepper's perfume or taste her lips on Tony's until he made himself put that in the back of his mind and enjoy whatever this was about to turn into.

While Tony was still silently working on turning his brain off, Bruce had returned to kissing down the other man's neck, sucking on the skin just hard enough to leave a little mark under his jaw. As he slid his hands up the sides of Tony's shirt to start working on getting it off, he briefly wondered what had prompted this—not that he minded, of course—but Tony had barely spoken to him in several days, and now he was suddenly eager for what was very quickly turning into something like dirty make-up sex.

Which was fairly normal for Tony, but considering the circumstances…

"Fuck."

Bruce decided his curiosity could wait when Tony's hand ended up on the recently very touch-starved hardness in his pants. He stopped for a second to let the pleasure roll through his body, but then Tony squeezed and Bruce's head snapped up to look at his boyfriend as a little whine fell out of him. Tony's eyes were dark with need, and it didn't take much for Bruce to realize that the man was asking him to just get on with it already; so with a muttered acknowledgement and a roll of his hips, Bruce did.

Both of their shirts had ended up scattered on the floor at some point, and due to Tony's impatient touching and moaning, their pants came off soon after. Bruce shivered as the room's cool air washed over his bare skin, but it didn't last after he settled back on top of Tony again, belly-to-belly with their hips fit snug against each other. Tony's hands danced along Bruce's skin, touching every inch of him down to his ass, which Tony took it upon himself to grab and consequently increase the friction between them.

Bruce had managed to grab the lube before Tony decided to pin them together, and after a low groan rumbled in his throat, he returned the favor and ground his hips down against Tony's. "You know, this is going to make it a little hard for me to fuck you," he murmured against Tony's ear, grinning as the words pulled another moan out of the man beneath him, "well… if that's what you want." He slipped a hand between them and wrapped his fingers around Tony's erection, watching him squirm as he pumped it as much as he could under the closeness. "Because I could do this all day."

Tony whined softly, bucking his hips into Bruce's touch. "Please," he almost whimpered, "please."

"Please what?" Bruce twisted his hand again, watching Tony's skin flush and chest heave. "You need to be a little more specific, Tony."

"Please just fuck me already, Banner."

Bruce hummed quietly in reply, letting himself enjoy the sight of Tony squirming beneath him for just a little longer before he gave in. "Better," he murmured, quickly preparing the both of them, "I can work with that." He leaned in and pressed his lips to Tony's, kissing him slowly until he deepened it when he rolled his hips and pushed inside.

Tony held his breath against the slow burn of Bruce's first move and hitched his legs up around the other man's waist in the moment in took for pain to turn into pleasure. It had been a while since he'd bottomed, he liked the dominance and control of being the one making the decisions, but this time he was fine where he was—this way, it was easier for him to not think about Pepper, even if it was only because she couldn't do this to him the way Bruce could. It was easier for him to just let Bruce fuck him senseless to get his mind off everything else that had his mind constantly circling the drain nowadays.

Except that it wasn't, because Tony couldn't bear to think of Bruce as just a distraction. That just made the whole thing worse; that was disgusting, so much that Tony wanted to kick himself for even thinking about it when he opened his eyes and saw Bruce's face just inches from his own, skin flushed red and twisted in pleasure.

God, he was beautiful. Perfect. Too perfect.

And he felt so goddamn good.

So Tony just let himself enjoy it for now. He pressed closer to his boyfriend as his back arched off the bed, which Bruce clearly took as a cue to thrust just a little harder and a little faster. His teeth were at Tony's neck, nibbling gently at the skin there while he listened to the mangled moans and whines spilling from Tony's mouth, until he shifted and found Tony's lips with his own again.

As soon as their lips met, Tony grabbed a fistful of Bruce's hair to anchor him in place. He was determined to feel every part of Bruce's body while they rode this out; every twitch of his muscles, tremor under his skin, thrust of his hips. He could already feel himself getting closer to the edge, and he sucked hard on Bruce's bottom lip when the final thrust finally got him there.

I love you.

The pressure snapped, and Tony's toes curled as that ever-needed wave of pleasure came crashing over him.

I love you so fucking much.

He didn't even have to open his eyes to know when Bruce finally reached his peak; he could just feel it, hear it in those familiar groans and cries before the other man slumped on top of him. They both stayed where they were for a few minutes, gulping down air like they were drowning, until Bruce rolled over and fell onto the bed beside Tony.

"That will never not be amazing," Bruce said after another several minutes, his voice a quiet, raspy chuckle. His head turned to the side to kiss Tony's bare shoulder, and he could feel Tony's pathetic attempt at a nod through the haze of aftershocks.

"Uh huh," Tony managed to reply. His hand traced lazy patterns over Bruce's side while his mind began to try and work again, and his eyes opened to the sight of the ceiling directly above him when the gears finally started to turn. "I talked to Pepper again today."

That's what he wants to talk about right now? Bruce forced his eyes open, but managed to keep himself from cocking an eyebrow at Tony's odd choice of post-sex conversation. He'd let the man talk, though. Clearly it was weighing on his mind. "Oh?" Bruce said, stretching his arm over Tony's stomach. "And how did that go?"

"Uh… better." Tony paused, reevaluating his word choice. "I think."

"Well, that's good." Bruce's gaze flicked back up to Tony, and his lips curled into a little smile. "I'm glad you two are talking again."

"Yeah." Tony tilted his head to meet Bruce's eyes, then let his gaze wander down along their still-entwined bodies pressed flush against each other. "Wanna go another round?"

Bruce barely thought about it before he nodded eagerly, and the rest of his reply consisted of a messy, needy kiss while he pulled Tony on top of him this time.