"You know what's kinda weird?" Tony asked as he poured his third cup of coffee that morning, his voice echoing throughout the large, airy kitchen space. The one in their apartment was quite a bit smaller and definitely more comfortable, but Bruce had a thing for always making a pit stop at the tower's large communal kitchen in the morning before work. It made more sense to have coffee and breakfast there, he would say. If we're going to live in a giant tower with our friends, we might as well be social, Tony.

Tony supposed the man was right. Still, it would have just been easier to roll out of bed and walk ten feet to his own kitchen rather than roll out of bed, actually put on pants, and take an elevator trip downstairs.

"What's weird?" Bruce looked up from the morning paper, pushing his glasses up his nose to see Tony properly. Tony still wondered why Bruce even read the actual paper when there was so much technology around here, but he wasn't going to cancel the subscription if it was the little things that made him happy.

"We've been with Pep for two weeks and we still don't live together." Tony ambled over to the table and leaned his hip against the edge, sipping his still too-hot coffee.

Bruce's eyes stopped moving across the page in front of him, and he paused for a moment before he chuckled quietly and shook his head. Tony quirked an eyebrow and set his coffee down, waiting for an explanation.

"Two weeks?" Bruce looked up at his boyfriend with something close to an incredulous expression. "Is two weeks your threshold for moving in together? That seems awfully fast."

"Hey, you can't talk any shit, Banner. You started sleeping in my bed after like, two days."

"Touché," Bruce conceded. "In my defense, the couch in the lab isn't particularly comfortable and your place is a lot closer than mine."

"Don't think that's a coincidence." Tony winked and Bruce snorted, but the subject evaporated quickly as Tony took a seat beside Bruce. "And yes, I know two weeks normally seems fast. But don't you think this situation is a little, uh… different?"

Bruce hummed and shrugged. "I guess? It's still a new relationship. It just has more participants than usual."

"Okay," Tony started, scooting closer to Bruce and peering at him over the edges of the newspaper. "Let me paint the picture here. I lived with Pep for a good three years, so it's not like it's a new concept. Now I live with you, but she's still a part of this little triad thing. But for some reason only two thirds of the triad live in the same apartment and sleep in the same bed. You can't tell me you don't think it's weird that she sneaks back up to her own place whenever we go to bed?"

Bruce had given up on reading the news when Tony kept talking, so he set the paper down in front of him and gave the conversation his full attention. "Well, it sounds weird when you call it sneaking," he replied. "Aside from your word choice, I really don't think it's weird. A lot has changed for her in the past few months, maybe she's just not ready for another one yet." He reached over and placed his hand over Tony's, wrapping his fingers around the other man's and giving them a squeeze. "Just give her some time."

Tony looked down at their twined hands and sighed lightly. Maybe Bruce was right (hell, Bruce was usually right), but that didn't necessarily stop him from thinking about it or taking it a little too personally. He definitely had his reasons for being wary of relationships.

"What is who not ready for?" Tony had been so deep in his thoughts that it actually startled him when Pepper walked into the room. She was usually easy to identify by the click of her heels, but between the extra strain from her pregnancy and Bruce's insistence that heels were bad for her back not only all the time but especially now, she'd been opting for different, quieter shoes. (And even though Tony was almost always turned on by the way Pepper's legs looked when she wore heels, he appreciated having a few inches height on her when she left them behind).

Tony twisted in his chair to look at her, watching her move around the kitchen and find herself something quick for breakfast. He was quiet for a moment as he watched her, struck again by just how lucky he was to have these two incredible people in his life, before his mouth gained a mind of its own and blurted his thoughts without his consent. "When you do plan on moving in with us?"

Pepper paused with her hand halfway into the fridge, taken by surprise by Tony's sudden proposal. She knew that question would come eventually, but she supposed she'd expected a little more conversation about it first. "Uh…" She took another moment to think, grabbing a cup of yogurt from the fridge to bring with her on her way to work. "I haven't really thought about it. Soon, I guess?"

"How soon?" Tony asked. "Like, today soon?"

Pepper looked down and smiled into her coffee mug, taking a sip before she wandered over to the table and stood between the two chairs. She set a hand on Tony's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "We can talk about it today," she answered, "but I don't think it'll happen today. We have to work some stuff out first."

"We could get it done today," Tony protested, "you know, I have the suits and the bots, and you could not go to work… everything could be wrapped up and done by six. Totally doable." He shifted in his chair and leaned his head against Pepper's side, essentially using her stomach as a particularly warm pillow and catching the little smile on Bruce's face as he did so.

"Just give it up, Tony," Bruce murmured, hiding his smirk in his mug of tea.

"What he said." Pepper grinned and slid her fingers through Tony's hair, mussing up the dark locks. "Because I need to go to work. Actually, I'm already late for work."

"Please," Tony whined, "you work for yourself. There's no such thing as late."

"There is on my schedule." Pepper gently pulled Tony's head up by his hair and bent down to give him a kiss, knowing that would keep him quiet and satisfied for at least a little while. "I'll come down to your place after work and we can talk about it, okay? But I do really have to go." She patted his shoulder before she turned her gaze onto Bruce, stifling a quiet laugh at his amused expression. "Keep an eye on him. I better not walk into my apartment later and find it empty."

Bruce grinned. "I'll keep it under control."

"Thank you, sunshine." She leaned in to kiss the smile off his face, and she had to stop herself from threading her hand through his curls or else she'd probably never make it to work that morning. "See you boys later."

Tony and Bruce both said their quick goodbyes, and Bruce shoved his nose back in the paper just as Tony folded his arms on the table and leaned forward to rest his head on top of them. "Oh, Banner," he sighed, "when did we get so domestic?"

"I don't think we truly qualify as 'domestic' until we stop flying around in metal suits and turning into massive rage monsters," Bruce pointed out dryly, flipping the page. "But if what we are right now is your definition, I have to say that I like it."

Tony turned his head to rest his cheek on his arms and look up at Bruce. "No, I like it too," he said, "it's just weird. Never thought it would be like this."

"Well, you might want to get used to it sooner rather than later. It's just going to get worse when she has that baby." Bruce finally seemed to be satisfied with the paper, and folded it up before setting it aside. He watched Tony shove his head back into his arms after a mangled noise of distress, and scooted his chair closer to drape his arm over Tony's hunched shoulders. "Quit whining, you'll be fine."

"Will I? Will I really?" Tony's voice was muffled, but it was probably for the best that his face was hidden so he couldn't see the ridiculous smile on Bruce's face. "I'm not good with kids. With all the crying and the pooping and the drooling."

"If those are the only things you're worried about, then you're definitely going to be fine." Bruce chuckled and leaned down to kiss Tony's head, shaking his shoulder gently to try and get the man to sit up properly. "Come on, let's go not be domestic and blow some stuff up in the lab. I have some ideas for an upgraded repulsor system that I'm hoping you'll like."

"That sounds like a much better plan."

###

"Usually I'm not opposed to that kinda thing, but I think we upped the power a little too much on that prototype," Tony remarked, fastening a towel around his waist as he walked out of the bathroom. He'd spent the better part of the last half hour scrubbing grime and ash off his skin in the shower, and the effort it took to get himself clean this time definitely convinced him that he needed to upgrade the testing unit down in the workshop. "A little help in there would have been nice, you know."

Bruce lazily rolled his head on the pillow, leaning over to set his tablet on the small table next to the bed. His eyes raked unabashedly up and down Tony's bare, damp skin, and he folded his arms behind his head when he finally looked up to meet Tony's eyes. "What, and ruin the suspense?" he asked teasingly. "Sometimes I make bets with myself on whether or not you'll come out with a towel. Fairly good motivator."

Tony turned away from the wardrobe, abandoning his search for a pair of sweat pants to look back at Bruce instead. "Did you win?" he asked, a stupid grin on his lips.

"No," Bruce replied smugly, "I really had my money on naked this time."

"Oh, well… can't have you losing your own bet," Tony said, wandering back over to the bed and sliding himself onto the edge of it. "That's embarrassing." He twisted and lowered himself down on top of the other man, ignoring how loosely the towel hung around his waist as he pressed his lips hard against Bruce's.

Bruce didn't waste any time in pulling Tony closer and holding him firmly. He could still smell whatever soap the man had used in the shower, and the feeling of damp skin beneath his palms and pressed against his torso made it easier for Bruce to just take things upon himself and push his tongue into Tony's mouth. Tony moaned unnecessarily loudly against Bruce's lips, and a few droplets of water spattered from his hair as he moved his head to deepen the kiss.

"Hey," Bruce quipped, gently pushing Tony off of him for a moment, "you're dripping on me."

"That's dirty," Tony mumbled, having migrated his lips to Bruce's neck as soon as the previous contact was lost.

"I'm so glad I have context for that one." They were interrupted by Pepper's voice and the dip of the bed as she crawled up beside them. She seemed to have made a habit of walking in on the middle of their conversations or otherwise, not that either of them really minded.

Tony couldn't quite stop the laugh that bubbled out of him, and he gently grazed his teeth along Bruce's neck when the man swatted his shoulder in response. "About time you got out of that office," Tony said, pulling himself away from Bruce's neck and rolling back onto the bed between him and Pepper. "You know, Pep, I've been thinking all day about how to get you moved into this place."

Pepper blinked, and fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Thank you, Tony, I had a lovely day. How was yours?" she deadpanned.

"In between bouts of ruining the repulsor testing unit, he did in fact spend the day brainstorming ideas of how to get you down here more often," Bruce answered in lieu of whatever equally sarcastic remark Tony would have come out with. He leaned over the still very naked and very damp Tony to press a kiss to Pepper's cheek, murmuring how was your day? against her ear. Pepper mouthed fine in response, giving him a little grin.

"Yeah, and during all the brainstorming, I still couldn't figure out why you won't move in with us," Tony continued to babble, "enlighten me?"

Pepper sighed, sinking back against the pillows to get as comfortable as she could manage. "I'm going to move in with you," she confirmed, "honestly, I just haven't given it that much thought. There's some things we should work out first anyway."

"Like what? Whose place we're gonna live in? Is that really that hard of a decision?"

"Well, that, among other things." Pepper shrugged. She really wasn't expecting for Tony to grill her so much about this; what the three of them has was so easy and casual and happy considering the bumpy road that had gotten them there, and she didn't want to get too bogged down in technicalities yet. "I mean, we need to think about what place is the best suited for us, and we're going to have the baby in a few months so we have to think about what she's going to need, and—"

"Why don't we just start over?" Bruce jutted in then, because he could sense the conversation that was about to happen before it even started. "We don't have to live in either of our places. The penthouse apartment is vacant, right?" He looked at Tony, and the other man paused before confirming with a nod. "That's definitely enough for the three of us plus the baby. And it wouldn't be someone moving into someone else's place, it would just be us… starting over with something new."

"How sentimental of you," Tony remarked, but the words were quickly accompanied with a grin as soon as he saw Bruce's expression. "Sounds like a plan to me. Everyone agree? Done deal?"

Well, Pepper thought, that certainly worked itself out quickly. In the nearly 15 years she'd known Tony, she still never failed to be amazed at how quickly he was able to make a decision and completely change an entire situation while simultaneously pulling her along into it. It was truly a phenomenon that she'd probably never understand. "Uh, sure." She'd thought about protesting and saying that they needed to talk about it and think it over more before making the final decision, but even a few seconds of consideration was enough for her to accept Bruce's idea, at least on one level.

"That was way easier than I thought it was gonna be," Tony remarked with what sounded like a sigh of relief. "So in that case," he continued, rolling over to press up against Pepper's side, "you gonna call your mom and see if you can bunk over with us tonight?"

Pepper looked down at him, pushing her fingers through his hair that had at least halfway dried itself by now. She was hesitant to respond, because she definitely had her reasons for staying by herself at night—but they were all adults here, and she knew that the two men had to be suspicious that she hadn't spent the night with them yet even in the most innocent of ways.

So she plastered a smirk on her face and curled over Tony, leaning in close to his lips. "Well, considering that you've already knocked me up," she started, murmuring the words against Tony's lips before she kissed him quickly and lightly, "I don't think she'd mind a sleepover."

Tony hummed quietly in satisfaction, catching Pepper's lips with his own one more time before she could move too far away. "About time," he muttered, but quickly made up for the remark with a grin. "You know what I'm gonna do? I'm going up to your place and grabbing some of your stuff, just so you don't decide to go up and get it yourself and end up deserting us," he announced, pulling himself back up properly, "like you did the other night."

"I didn't desert you," Pepper defended, sighing fondly. "But if you want to save me the extra trip, be my guest."

"I'll do you the favor," Tony said, "you need to rest, anyway." He brushed his hand over her stomach on his way off the bed, and when his towel nearly fell off as he stood up he realized that maybe pants would be a good idea. He pulled on a pair of sweats and didn't bother with a shirt, leaving the other two with a sing-songy "I'll be back" as he wandered out of the room.

Bruce watched him go, shaking his head at Tony's complete lack of regard for anybody else who might be roaming the tower. Although, if they were anything like Bruce, they might even enjoy the view. "So," he said once he knew Tony was fully out of earshot, rolling onto his side to face Pepper. "Want to tell me the real reason you haven't been sleeping over with us?"

Pepper didn't turn her head to look at him right away. She could tell by the tone of his voice that he was probably wearing that ridiculous expression of his that he always used to get information out of her, the one with the wide, curious eyes and the innocent little smile. It was something she'd seen plenty of long before this relationship had even happened, and there were even times Pepper was guilty of using it herself. "Force of habit, I suppose," she answered, pulling one of the many pillows over her middle to give herself something to do with her hands. "Nothing personal."

"Really." The fact that she had said 'nothing personal' made Bruce wonder if it was in fact the opposite, but giving her an accusatory response would do nothing but push her away. "So when you woke yourself up after falling asleep in my arms and scurried back off to your place last night, it was just… involuntary? Interesting habit you have there, darling."

"It's weird, I know," Pepper replied as casually as she could manage, absently toying with a loose string on the pillow. "I'll make sure to not do that tonight."

Bruce bit back a sigh, chewing on his lip instead. She had to know that Bruce was onto her, but yet again he was amazed by just how good she was at avoiding topics she really didn't want to discuss. Pepper was just about as stubborn as Tony, if not even more, and Bruce found himself questioning how exactly he'd managed to end up with two of the most stubborn people he knew.

"Pepper, look at me, please?" Bruce's tone softened, and he lifted a hand to gently touch her cheek and hopefully coax her to look at him. "I think we both know what this is actually about."

Pepper felt her skin warm underneath Bruce's hand, and she really couldn't avoid looking at him any longer. She turned her head and met his eyes, and as much as she wanted to let her walls break down when she saw his face, she couldn't quite get to that place yet. "Fill me in, then," she said, hoping the deadpan tone gave him the impression that she really didn't want to talk about this.

It was probably a good idea to actually sit up properly for this conversation, so Bruce pulled himself up so he was eye level with Pepper. He reached out and pulled the pillow away from her so he could take her hand, loosely lacing their fingers. "You haven't told him yet," he said. It wasn't a question because he could tell, and posing it as a question would just give her another chance to deny it. "About the complications."

The immediate response that came to mind was 'what complications?', but Pepper definitely knew better than that. She'd been answering his questions with statements that created more questions ever since the conversation started, and maybe she'd be able to continue that if only he hadn't been with her at the doctor's those few weeks ago. Except that Bruce was too smart for any of those games, and Pepper didn't want to insult his intelligence any longer. "It's always the worst at night," she admitted, fixing her gaze on their joined hands instead of his eyes.

Bruce couldn't say that he hadn't expected that kind of response, but the information still made him cringe in sympathy. He hoped Pepper hadn't noticed the small action. "Then why don't you stay here and let us help you?" he asked, doing his best to not sound hurt or accusatory. This was her life, her struggle, and her and Tony's baby—Bruce was just lucky that they'd let him be a part of this at all. The last thing he wanted to do was overstep his boundaries or make Pepper question her decision to let him in (although, he supposed it was his obligation as one of her significant others to look out for her, even if she didn't always like his way of doing so).

For Pepper, at least, this conversation was starting to feel a lot like the same one they'd had at the doctors. Why didn't you tell anyone, you could have told me, Bruce had said, and now, much like then, she was waiting for are you going to tell Tony? Logically, she knew she'd have to eventually, but at the same time… she'd made it this far without Tony knowing, so there wasn't anything saying that she couldn't make it all the way.

Or at least she could have if they hadn't fallen into this interesting triad of a relationship, because then they wouldn't be moving in together and sleeping with each other and she wouldn't have to worry about hiding anything. She didn't regret it by any means, but maybe she had slightly underestimated how much things would change.

When Pepper realized that it had been a good minute of silence between them, she made herself look over at Bruce only to find his eyebrows raised expectantly. Somehow the expression didn't come off as rude or prying like it did on most people, and Pepper just chalked that up to his kind eyes and the gentle pressure of his hand on hers. "I guess I just don't want you two to see me like that," she finally said, making an attempt to shrug it off.

Bruce licked his lips, trying to figure out how he wanted to deal with that answer. Pepper seemed to have looked away when he did, so it gave his eyes the chance to sweep over her body and try to read the signs. The normally soft, sweet curves of her slender figure were now riddled with tension, and the way her free hand was curled over her stomach suggested that the touch was far more defensive than delicate. There wasn't any doubt that she was far more on edge than she had been ten minutes ago, and the last thing Bruce wanted to do was rub her the wrong way—now especially. "Am I allowed to ask what you don't want us to see you as?" he asked carefully, looking up at the side of her face.

"Weak." Her response was slow and measured, as if she was trying out the word to see how it felt on her tongue. It didn't feel quite right, because as many times as she'd felt that way recently, admitting it was something totally different. "It makes me weak, and I don't exactly want to broadcast that."

"I don't think telling Tony and I when you're in pain really counts as broadcasting any weakness," Bruce said, doing his best to not break his composure despite how much he was already hurting for her. "That's just… being human. Which, by the way, you are allowed to be."

"You don't get it." Pepper supposed that maybe he did, because he was the Hulk for god's sake, and if anyone didn't want to broadcast weakness it was probably him. "The last time I let myself be… the last time I let my guard down, I let myself get nabbed by some disgusting, second-rate scientist who tied me up, took advantage of me, and literally injected fire into my veins." Admittedly, she'd had some rather irresponsible lapses of judgment after that and definitely very recently, but none of them constituted being weak. "Before the Extremis… I was his rock, you know? Then after that he had to fix me and it just felt so backwards and weak, and I don't want to go back to that." She didn't know where all of these words were coming from. She'd barely managed to admit that to herself in her own private thoughts, and now somehow it was all out in the open, laid out in a perfect line for Bruce to examine. "Rocks don't break."

"Yes they do." Bruce felt like someone had reached into his chest, ripped out his heart, and stuck it right on his sleeve, and he was sure that his face showed it. By all means, he understood where she was coming from—maybe not in the sense that he was the rock for someone else, but he'd always had to be the rock for himself and the Other Guy. On occasion, Hulk was quite literally a rock himself, but Bruce knew all too well how easy it was to break. And seeing Pepper waver like this, seeing her question her strength over something she really couldn't control, hurt like hell. "If there's enough pressure, they always do."

He shifted closer and pulled Pepper into his arms, tucking her head down against his chest. She leaned into the touches much easier than either of them expected, and Bruce just focused on running his hands along her back and sides to offer as much comfort as he could.

"It just took so long to get him to even care about this baby," Pepper said quietly, and Bruce could feel the gentle brush of her lips against the bottom of his neck. "And even longer for him to be excited about it. Telling him about the complications would ruin that so easily."

Bruce wanted to tell her that she was jumping to conclusions too soon, but he was sure that she knew better. Maybe it wouldn't exactly ruin Tony's hard-won care and excitement, but it would certainly taint it and shroud the man in worry—hell, even Bruce was worried, and the kid wasn't even his. He'd also seen Tony when something hit him hard, and heard all too much about the man's sometimes uncontrollable anxiety. It wasn't something he ever wanted to see again, but that didn't change the fact that Tony had the right to know what Pepper wasn't telling him.

"It would be hard on him, yes," Bruce said gently, threading his fingers through Pepper's thick, soft hair before smoothing the strawberry blonde locks down her back. "But you've been saying the whole time that you want him to be a part of this. As horrible as it is… this is part of it too, Pepper."

Pepper sighed and closed her eyes. She supposed that she had been fairly selfish by withholding information from Tony like that, but she would argue her own point by saying that all she wanted to do was protect him, like she had so many times in the past. Bruce was right though, the complications were just as much a part of the whole situation as everything else, and some things just weren't meant to be lied about.

"I know," she finally whispered, and despite the low volume of her voice, Bruce could clearly hear the heartbreak.

The conversation didn't go much further, partly because Bruce didn't want to see her hurting any more than she already was, and partly because they were interrupted by Tony a few moments later. Despite how much he wanted Tony to know about what was going on, it was Pepper's news to tell, and he wasn't going to ever betray her trust like that if he could help it.

"Well, I see you two are able to get on just fine without me," Tony joked, dropping a small duffel bag on the end of the bed, even if it was just to showcase his resourcefulness. His eyes paused on the two of them for a minute to take in the sight, and in between thinking of just how lucky he was to have fallen into all of this he noticed that Pepper didn't seem all too comfortable despite her position pressed warmly against Bruce's body.

"You were taking too long, we had to keep warm somehow." Bruce smiled cheerfully, and after a discreet nudge to Pepper's side, she looked up and gave Tony the best grin she could manage. "What kept you up there for all that time anyway? Nothing too mischievous, I hope?"

"More like trying to figure out how the hell this woman has her clothes organized," Tony muttered playfully, pulling some pajamas out of the bag and tossing them in Pepper's general direction. The comment as well as the action earned him a light push from Pepper's foot, so he rolled his eyes and surrendered easily. "Okay, finding things isn't that bad. Not messing it up is the hard part," he flashed his signature cocky smile, "I also may or may not have made a pit stop at the kitchen."

"That explains it," Pepper muttered, a little bit of amusement coloring her voice as Tony rolled his eyes and wandered into the bathroom with Pepper's toothbrush to put it away.

Bruce chuckled quietly at the whole exchange, just as impressed by the easy, casual give-and-take as he always was. He hadn't expected everything to fall into place so nearly perfectly with the three of them (excluding one glaringly obvious thing, of course), but he wasn't going to complain that it had. "So are you going to tell him?" he whispered while he had the chance, giving Pepper's waist an encouraging squeeze.

Even though she'd been hoping that Bruce would drop the subject as soon as Tony came back, Pepper had been expecting that question at some point that night. "Eventually," she responded, and the word had made it out just as Tony strolled back into the room and before Bruce had the opportunity to protest.

Although, when Tony finally crawled back into bed beside Bruce and stretched his arm across them both to rest a gentle hand on Pepper's stomach, protesting to anything just seemed like a waste of time and breath. It could wait a little longer, Bruce supposed, if it meant preserving the comfort and calm they had in that very moment before they had to face the inevitable pain and hardship that he knew would have to come eventually.