Long A/N: Heyo some cute Spider-boy in this chapter.
Also- you guys are really great! Every time I see someone comment it makes my cold, dead, heart grow!
Okay and now the thing that I've been forgetting to put in my author's note since Ch 1: Basically I tried to stay on the normal MCU timeline as best as I could, but it's not perfect. For one, the tower is still where they live (if you haven't figured that one out yet), but the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming also still happened... Even though there was no moving... Yeah. Figure that one out yourself lol.
Secondly, alcohol withdrawal begins in this chapter. Based on the amount of alcohol Tony consumes regularly, going 'cold turkey' would kill him. Lucky for you guys- it's a fanfic! So don't worry, he'll just experience some symptoms other than death. Good times.
((also i fucking love writing dreams, so there will be more to follow))
Okay sorry for the long note please read and enjoy!
After the grave realization, Tony rips out his IV (much to Rhodes' distaste), and pulls Bruce completely onto the bed. Lucky thing about the Stark Med Bay - the beds are actually decent size, so it's not too uncomfortable.
Along with a few more repetitions and stutters, Bruce's shakes and quick breathing die down, and he doses off. Maybe not "doses off". It's probably closer to "passes out due to a combination of shock, malnutrition, and general exhaustrion". Whatever works though, right?
However it happens, Bruce's breathing eventually evens out, and the engineer makes quick work of the things around him.
"Honey Bear" He whisper shouts, "Get some gatorade or something and those protein bars that I seem to inhale from the lab." Then, quickly regretting this, Tony states, "Actually no, get Vis to do those things; you need to be resting. Go find a couch or something."
Rhodes replies, but Tony is already too absorbed in his next task to care, so he simply waves the Colonel out.
The billionaire then pulls off the electrodes from his chest and gingerly sticks them on his friend, careful to keep his Green Bean asleep. Once the primitive machines are showing Bruce's heart rate and pulse, Tony whispers, "Fri, bring up Brucie's vitals on my tablet, please."
Instantly, the once discarded tablet in the room displays a holographic image. "Search for any abnormalities." Tony winces at the words. "Well," He corrects, "Any abnormalities to Bruce's already abnormal body."
"Beginning search now." Friday announces, but something sounds off.
It doesn't take long for the genius to pinpoint the difference. And he glows with pride when he does.
Friday had quieted down without anyone telling her to, because she recognized the sleeping figure.
Baby's growing up, Stark thinks, before turning his attention back to the person who needs it the most.
Bruce looks… Surprisingly peaceful, given the situation. Besides the occasional flicker of movement behind the biologist's eyelids, he looks comfortable. The last beads of sweat evaporate from his forehead, and his cuticles get a short break from the constant assault on them.
Tony smiles, and eases himself out of the other side of the bed. Other than a small sleepy groan, the biologist doesn't seem to notice the lack of presence, and certainly doesn't wake up.
Tony breathes a sigh of relief.
Barefooted, the billionaire pads around the room, anxiously awaiting Friday's preliminary scan. Obviously Tony and Bruce would study more, and would get more information from a blood and tissue sample, but later. For now, the simple scan would have to do.
Fuck, Tony thinks, What I wouldn't do for a drink right now.
It's just then when Vision floats in, carrying protein bars and gatorade. It's no vodka, but it'll work for the time being. Especially for Bruce when he wakes up.
"Is Rhodey resting?" Tony questions with a hushed voice.
A second too late Vision answers, "I'm not sure-"
"Bull," Tony interrupts. "Do me a favor and go find Rhodey and tell him to get his ass on a bed or couch. No rephrasing this time either. Ass. On. Couch." He adds, giving an extra look of disapproval.
Vision nods, and turns to leave, before suggesting, "I'd recommend that you drink some of that gatorade as well, It won't be long until withdrawal symptoms begin." And then like the man he was modeled after, he abruptly leaves, presumably to check up on Rhodey.
Groaning, Tony slouches down into the deserted chair. Right, withdrawal. The engineer remembers withdrawal like the back of his hand. Mainly on how it's a fucking bitch to get through.
One hell of a Monday, Tony muses. At least he has the rest of the day to work, or at least until Rhodey kicks him out of the lab-
Oh.
It's Monday.
Which means-
"Friday, is the spiderling coming in today?"
He knows the answer before his AI responds, "Yes, at 3:15 like every other Monday."
"-like every other Monday." Tony completes with Friday, running a tired hand through his greasy hair.
He doesn't want to cancel with the kid, because he knows how much Peter adores his lab time in the Tower. And hell, Tony enjoys it too. Each conversation with the kid makes Tony feel like his soul is cleaned up just a bit more.
"Scan complete." Friday announces, bringing Tony out of his trance.
"Any results worth sharing with the class?"
"All of Doctor Banner's vitals seem to be functioning at a normal adult male with gamma radiation level. I would recommend a more vigorous scan in the future." Friday helpfully supplies.
Shaking his head Tony mutters, "Damn it. Here I was hoping for the easy way out of this." Speaking to his unconscious friend, Tony questions, "What the hell is going on in your body, Brucie?"
"Alright, Fri. Keep me updated on Bruce's vitals. Now where the hell is Rhodey?"
Even though the last bit was rhetorical, the young AI answers, "Colonel Rhodes is currently in the kitchen on the twentieth floor, dumping out your 'secret' stash of alcohol."
The only thing that stops the engineer from yelling at this point is the knowledge that his friend is getting well deserved sleep. Then, sparing on last glance at Bruce, Tony heads out of the door to the twentieth floor.
Other than being a bit shaky in his legs, Tony feels fine, if not a bit energized. Like this morning never happened.
As soon as the elevator dings open, Tony says, "Honey Bear I need your help."
"No you can not have a drink even if it's small." Rhodes replies, not looking at his old friend.
"No, not that, and honestly sweetheart, I feel a bit attacked," Tony sarcastically bites. "I need to know what happened this morning."
Sighing and turning around, Rhodes mutters, "Tony, if I tell you, you're just going to feel really fucking guilty, like when you learned about Peter."
Tony's eyes turn into a cold stare and he hastily replies, "That's fucking different, and you know it. That was my fault, not looking out for the kid, whereas for this, I just need to know what the Hulk did, or how he acted."
Although looking unconvinced, Rhodes still answers, "Tony, he's a giant green rage monster, who destroyed most of your lab and part of the floor above it. How the hell do you think he acted?" The Colonel winces during the statement, and Tony catches it.
"Rhodey sit down. Your legs are obviously bothering you. Go get Vision to throw out the alcohol." Tony says, all bite gone from his voice, helping his friend to one of the stools in the kitchen. The engineer then takes the stool next to him and asks, "I just need to know if the Hulk acted even a bit differently."
Rubbing his legs Rhodes replies, "Uh, I don't know. I don't have much knowledge of the Hulk in the first place. He called you 'Puny Tony' and picked you up. He then broke through the glass and sorta left you there. He spent the rest of the time absolutely demolishing your lab, so it'll take awhile for that to get fixed."
"How easily could the Hulk break through the glass?"
Rhodes gives him a questioning look, "He, he's the Hulk, Tones. How hard do you think it was? He basically hit it with his shoulder and then it shattered."
"Fuck."
"Why are you concerned about this?"
Biting his cheeks Tony mumbles, "Because I specifically made that glass to be Hulk proof. Must've screwed up the math, or something…" He trails off, obviously annoyed at himself.
"See Tones," Rhodes points out, "Now you're just blaming yourself for this. Happens every damn time."
Head falling into his hands, Tony says, "I either fucked up my math, or something is really, really wrong, Rhodey."
Nodding shallowly, Rhodes agrees, "I know, Tones. But you'll figure it out. You always do. Besides, this time you have another genius to help you with it."
"Yeah." Tony says, but it doesn't mean anything to either of the men.
The two friends sit in a comfortable silence, both too absorbed in their thoughts, until Rhodes pulls Tony into a bear hug, surprising the latter.
Almost instantly, the engineer's emotions start running wild. "Oh God, Rhodey." He sniffles and continues, "When did this all go to shit? Last Christmas was so fucking perfect. With Pep, and all of the avengers that I dragged to the Tower to force to celebrate with me. When did it all go to shit?"
"I dunno, Tones. But it happened, and we can't do anything to stop it. We just gotta move on, man. Imagine next Christmas, when everything works itself out. Just have to keep going a bit more, Tones."
"I can't anymore, Rhodey Bear. I just can't." Tony mutters, breaking the Colonel's heart. To hear his friend talk like this reminds him of MIT, when the engineer was just a scrawny teenager, growth spurt in the future. Mind completely crushed from the death of his butler. And Rhodes had to get him through that, as well. Driving to him in the middle of nowhere after a drunk phone call. Questioning why the fuck he was out there, tears making puddles. "It'll be okay, Tones. We'll fix all of the problems, or they'll fix themselves. They always do, right?"
"But what if this time they don't? I have to stop getting lucky at some point, right?" Tony mutters, burying his head in the shoulder of his Rhodey Bear.
Rather than answering, Rhodes just hugs him closer.
The press would have a fucking field day with them. 'Course if anyone got a picture of this they would have a very "accidental" death not long after.
The two men stay in the embrace, until Rhodes drags Tony to the couch, and puts a blanket around him in a wordless exchange.
The engineer falls asleep within minutes, with the knowledge of Rhodes next to him.
When Tony wakes up, he's back in old New York.
His shoulders ache from holding up the nuke destined for the city, and he still has miles of sky to get through.
With one goal in mind he powers his repulsors up and goes straight into the portal in the sky. Everything is dark. Actually no, dark is an understatement.
It's void of any light.
Nuke thrown at the Chitauri 'home' Tony's breath quickens, because there's no way in hell he'll get back through the portal in time.
The suit is offline. He can't tell Pep that he loves her.
He will never show off his tech to the other man who speaks English that he just met.
He can't apologize to Captain fucking America for - fine, he'll admit it - saving his life.
He won't ever get to pay his respects to Phil Coulson.
He will never truly meet the archer, Clint Barton.
He will never find out who Natasha Romanoff really is.
He will never question Thor of his abilities, or take a look at that incredible hammer.
Darkness
Surrounds
Him
Tony awakes with a gasp, the Hulk roaring above him.
Rhodey sighs of relief and looks at him. "You're alright, Tony. I promise, you're alright. Back on Earth."
Begging for breaths, Tony asks, "Wh-why's the Hulk here?"
With a confused and concerned face Rhodey replies, "Don't you remember, Tony? He was helping us fight the Chitauri. He caught you when you were falling."
The engineer is about to ask why Rhodey is there, but abruptly stops.
Out of his peripheral vision, Tony sees Steve Roger's face. He looks confused as well. "You weren't supposed to make out alive, Tony."
Cracking a trademark smile Tony mutters, "I always break the rules,"
Steve just shakes his head. "No, not this time. Being a rule follower is how things get done." He brings his shield over his head. "I'm sorry Tony, but you were supposed to die."
Iron Man sees the shield come down on his arc reactor, but never feels it.
Tony Stark wakes up, a scream lost in his throat.
Rhodes immediately comes over. "Tony. Tony. Look at me."
But the engineer can't, because this is also a trick on his consciousness. "Where's Steve?" He blurts out, headache stopping his mind-to-mouth filter.
"Steve?" Rhodes' face scrunches up. "Tony, he's far away. He can't hurt you here. Look at me, look at my face."
"You were there, you let him," Replies, instead of look at his friend's face.
"Tony, look at my legs. Look at the metal braces around them. Why the fuck would I have them on if Germany didn't happen?" The Colonel knows his legs are a sore spot in Tony's head, but it's the only thing he can think of. "Remember, Germany happened, and then the other avengers left, right? Including Steve. He left."
Tony stares at the braces for a few minutes and quietly asks, "It's February?"
Sliding down onto the couch next to his panicked friend Rhodes agrees, "Yeah, it's February. February sixth. Pepper's in California finishing a conference, Vision is in the building, and Bruce is resting in the Med Bay."
"Not the Hulk?" Tony squeezes out between his quick breaths.
"Not the Hulk," Rhodes confirms. "Just a scientist."
Tony nods, and pushes his hands under the blanket so Rhodes can't see them shaking.
"Tones, you need to calm down a bit, okay? Let's start with breathing. We're both gonna breath nice and slow. Can you tell me why breathing slowly is better?"
Almost reflexively Tony replies, "Because our cells need oxygen to function, and breathing in slow, deep breaths gives the most oxygen."
"Perfect. Now, deep, deep breaths."
The two spend minutes breathing slowly, until Tony mutters, "That was- fuck. At least it didn't fucking involve my parents this time."
"What did you dream?" Rhodey asks, putting emphasis on 'dream' to further push the fact that it wasn't real.
"The wormhole. And Siberia. All in one fun package."
Rhodes wants to kill Rogers. It's no surprise to anyone. "God Tones, I'm sorry."
"'S not your fault." The engineer replies. "Never your fault." Then, before his friend can argue he asks, "How long did I sleep?"
"'Bout two hours."
Tony raises his eyebrows in disbelief. "Really?"
"Yeah. Took awhile for you to dream, I guess."
The billionaire nods. "So what, it's like one o'clock now?"
Glancing at a clock Rhodey supplies, "2:10, actually."
"What the fuck?"
"It was already well past eleven when you fell asleep."
"Oh." Tony elegantly responds. "Is Bruce up?"
The Colonel shrugs. "I dunno. I've been here the whole time, resting my legs like you've been drilling me to."
"Good. Friday," Tony starts, "Where's Bruce?"
"Doctor Banner has been awake for the past thirty minutes and is currently down in your old lab, assessing the damage."
Rubbing a hand down his face, Tony replies, "Fuck. It's like he wants to constantly feel guilty or something."
Snorting, Rhodes notes, "Well, I know where he gets it from."
"Oh c'mon, Rhodey. I'm not as bad as Bruce. He hides out in third world countries because he feels guilty."
Rhodes counters, "You hide out in your lab."
"That's different."
"Is it?"
Standing up, letting the blanket pool at his feet Tony mumbles, "Whatever. I'm going to go stop his guilt trip while I still can. Keep resting your legs, Honey Bear."
Rhodes just rolls his eyes and massages his temples in an effort to rid the headache that's rapidly forming.
Tony takes the elevator, and rubs a hand at his stomach, withdrawal symptoms already starting. Great. He goes to the floor above the lab, and sees the hole in the floor. A suspicious Hulk shaped hole.
Despite the engineer's age, he easily drops down the hole to the carnage that was once called his lab. Tables aren't just flipped over, they're ripped in half like soft butter, glass covers the floor in a thin sparkly sheet, and his physical work leaves much to the imagination.
Glancing to his left, he sees Bruce lightly kicking a bit of oddly shaped sheet metal, and Tony gives a low whistle. "Well, I've been meaning to change up my lab anyway.
"Tony!" Bruce practically squeals, jumping a bit. "Tony, oh God, I'm so sorry, about your lab, it's completely ruined, and you had so many nice things in here, as well as your greatest inventions, and I just completely destroyed all of them, and-"
The billionaire moves his hands as if cutting off a symphony to shut his friend up. "Aaaaand, that is precisely why I came down here. One, I don't blame you. Two, I don't blame you. And can you guess what three is?"
Bruce grumbles something, but Tony continues anyway. Three, I don't fucking blame you. This," He pauses to look around once more, "Is not your fault. Okay?"
"'Kay."
"That doesn't sound like you understand. Bruce, look at me,"
Shyly, Bruce turns to face Tony in his eyes. "Yeah?"
"This. Is. Not. Your. Fault. And the sooner you accept that, the sooner we're going to be able to create a better, bigger, more awesome lab."
"'More awesome' lab?"
"Shut up. I'm good with words."
Bruce gives a small grin, but it seemingly lights up the room. "Do you know where the fire extinguisher is?" Bruce asks, out of the blue.
"...No? Is there a fire?"
Bruce quickly shakes his head. "Fire? No, there's no fire. But Dum-E's been patting out 'fire extinguisher' in morse code since I've come down here."
Sure enough, when Tony looks to the edge of the lab, Dum-E is patting his claw on the wall, spelling out "fire extinguisher" repeatedly.
"I swear to God, Dum-E," Tony starts, with a fond discipline. "Your relationship with that fire extinguisher is not healthy. But I'll give one to you, just because you're feeling anxious." At that, Dum-E gives a happy whir and spins around. Suddenly confused, Tony asks his 'bot, "Wait, when did you learn morse code?"
Friday's voice comes through, although staticy, and says, "I taught him a month ago, Boss."
The engineer throws his hands up in mock disbelief and asks, "Why the hell did you teach Dum-E morse code?"
"You installed a protocol to let me communicate with the 'bots and teach them."
"So, of course, naturally you'd teach Dum-E morse code?"
"Yes, Boss." Friday answers, as if it's the most normal conversation in the world.
Shaking his head, Tony looks over to Bruce and says, "See? This is what I live with. Constantly. No breaks from these guys."
Failing at covering his smile, Bruce replies, "To be fair Tony, you did build them yourself. You could disband them just as easy."
Dum-E gives a panicked chirp, and Tony says, "Don't worry Dum-E. You'd go to a community college before I took you apart." Everyone (living or not) knows it isn't true though. After his Malibu mansion was destroyed, the first thing Tony did was rebuild Dum-E.
Turning more seriously, Tony makes his way over to Bruce and asks, "How are you feeling? Better? Still tired? Sick?"
"Tony I'm fine." Bruce answers, stopping his natural reflex to step away from the person coming toward him.
"Are you sure?" The engineer inquires, putting the back of his hand on Bruce's forehead.
"Tony!" Bruce mutters, slapping his hand away. "I said I feel fine. I don't even feel the effects of the Hulk anymore."
The other party doesn't look convinced, but he doesn't push. "So. How about that fire extinguisher?"
Bruce laughs before he can stop himself, and sets off looking under the destroyed lab for the object. Eventually, he sees a red glint under some cracked glass. "Found it," He announces, catching the attention of Tony and the bot.
The engineer walks over the other scientist and agrees, "Yep. That's it. Gonna be real fun to dig out." He mutters sarcastically.
Bruce snorts into his curls, and helps Tony pick up the glass.
"Fuck," Bruce swears, dropping a section, and inspecting his hand.
"You alright, Brucie?" Tony asks, alarmed.
Poking at the skin between his thumb and pointer finger, Bruce answers, "Yeah, fine. Just nicked my hand, that's all."
Tony nods and looks at his bot. "You better appreciate this, Dum-E. Bruce is putting his blood sweat and tears into your beloved fire extinguisher."
Bruce rolls his eyes, and they finally pull it out.
The device itself is in surprisingly good shape, given the state of the rest of the lab. The nozzle is a bit… incerated (ironic, given the device's purpose), but the rest of it is fine. Barely dented.
Tony tosses it to his bot and says, "There you go, big baby."
In turn, Dum-E spins happily in a circle.
Bruce stares at it and mutters, "What the hell."
Tony grins and says, "Let's go wrap your hand now, big guy."
Bruce shakes his head and replies, "It's fine. I barely scratched it, anyway."
Raising his eyebrows Tony points at his friend's hand and questions, "Is that so?"
The doctor then looks down at his hand and blinks twice. "Oh. Yeah, that's a bit deeper than I thought it was."
"So, back to the med bay?"
"Yeah." Bruce agrees. "Feels like I live there, at this point."
Tony nods, "I hear you. We'll make an effort to keep you out of it, sound good?"
"Mmhm."
The engineer takes another look at his hand and says, "Seriously, Bruce, does your blood clot? That's bleeding like a bitch."
"Shit, yeah, that's bad." Bruce mutters, blood starting to drip down onto the floor. "I never bleed this bad,"
Tony ignores the comment and asks, "The other guy isn't gonna make an appearance, right?" Better be safe than sorry.
"No yeah, I got him. Not gonna come out."
"Right." Tony says, attempting to keep the worry out of his voice. "Ah, shit."
"What?"
"The only way out of here is through the hole in the ceiling. I assume you also climbed down from there?"
Bruce nods. "Yep. Not very elegantly though. I hope Friday didn't see it."
Upon hearing her voice Friday says, "The recordings from today are stored in February Sixth file, would you like to see them?"
Tony says, "Atta girl, Fri,"
Just as Bruce's face turns red and says, "No, no, definitely not."
All joking aside, Tony then wanders into his lab without another word.
"Tony?" Bruce questions.
To reply, the engineer comes back dragging a broken down counter top. "Can you reach the next floor if you stand on this?"
Bruce eyes and and says, "Probably if I jump."
Smiling Tony claps his hands together and says, "Wonderful. Now, up you go. I'll be right behind you, I pinkie promise."
The biologist nods and hauls himself up to the higher floor, leaving an ugly blood stain on the floor. Tony then gets himself up and mutters, "Bye bye, Dum-E. I'll be back soon. If you're bored, talk to Friday."
When they both stand up and head to the elevator Bruce mutters, "This is bleeding worse than I thought. Maybe there's glass still in there?"
"God, I hope not. That'd be a pain in both of our asses to dig out." Tony replies, inspecting the hand. "Jesus that is bad. Are you feeling light headed?"
With disbelief Bruce says, "It's not that bad, Tony. I could bleed like this for another hour and still be fine."
"Not as comforting as you might think, Green Bean," Tony mutters, dragging him to the med bay once the elevator opens. "C'mon. Back to your favorite room."
Bruce wordlessly follows his friend, taking his hand back from his grasp.
"Alright, wash it out a bit, just so we can see what the hell is going on there." Bruce is stupidly grateful Tony said "we" rather than "I". It's like Trust Issues City in here.
Once there's a bit less blood on his hand Friday suddenly announces, "Boss, Spider-Boy is requesting permission to arrive earlier."
"Spider-Boy?" Bruce questions.
Smirking Tony replies, "I made Friday call him that. And Fri, doesn't he have school?"
"Boss, schools in the area were canceled today."
"Why?"
"There's a foot of snow on the ground." Friday answers, and Bruce would smack his head with his hand, had it not been covered in blood.
Tony looks out the window, and sure enough, there's snow. A lot. "Well, I looked outside at some point. Didn't think it continued snowing. Sure, Fri, send Happy to go pick him up."
"Hey Tony," Bruce starts, when the AI doesn't reply. "Where are the tweezers?"
"There's still glass in there?"
"Yeah." Bruce dryly answers, wiping off excess blood. And sitting down on the edge of the bed.
"Fucking shit. Okay." The engineer curses, grabbing a first-aid kit from the overhead cabinet. He takes the tweezers out and brings them near Bruce's hand when the biologist pulls back and quietly asks, "Can, uh, can I?"
Feeling rather stupid, Tony quickly hands the tweezers to Bruce's good hand and apologizes, "Oh yeah. Sorry. Just if you need any help, I'm here."
Before Bruce can say anything else Friday interrupts, "Boss-"
"What now, Fri?"
"Spider-Boy is already outside. He came over here to ask."
"The fuck? Let him in then! What the hell is the kid doing out there in a foot of snow anyway? Why didn't he call me?" Pausing he adds, "Oh, and Friday, don't let him go to the lab, he doesn't have to see that," Bruce shrinks down at the comment, "instead, just send him up here."
"Certainly, Boss."
"Have a suture kit in there too?" Bruce says, gasping in the middle of the sentence when he pulls out the small piece of glass.
Looking over at the bloody hand Tony asks, "Shit, that bad?"
"Not particularly, but the bleeding isn't going down. I'm not really sure why."
With a grim face, Tony pulls out the medical thread and needle. "Can I help, this time? It's not really a one hand job."
Bruce doesn't point out the fact that in Gujarat he stitched himself with one hand more than once, and slowly nods, consenting.
"Thanks, Brucie Bear."
With his other hand Bruce pops and rubs his fingers, anxiety exploding out like a balloon bursting. If Tony notices, he doesn't say anything about it.
He does, however, point out the band-aid on the injured hand. "Where'd that come from?"
Smiling, Bruce mutters, "Vision requested I put a band-aid on it. Bled a bit when I picked at it." What Bruce doesn't know, is that Vision understands that a small cut like that doesn't need a bandaid. Instead, Vision requested the small bandage to stop the habit of assault on his cuticles. Clever being.
Tony knows though, and mentally reminds himself to give Vision a high five or something.
"Mr. Stark!" Comes a happy voice, slightly cracking in the middle, making Banner jump, and Stark fondly sigh.
"Come in, Peter." Turning around to see him, he adds, "And take off that jacket. Fri, raise the temp a few degrees in here. Why the hell didn't you just call me?" Tony questions, while Bruce still sits on the edge of the bed looking confused.
Shifting from foot to foot Peter answers, "Oh, I, well, kindofmaybesortofbrokemycellphone."
"Does Aunt May know?"
"No? At least, I hope not."
"Good. Don't stress her about it. I got about a trillion more for you."
Peter's face lights up. "Oh, really, Mr. Stark? Thank you!"
Tony smiles at the kid and says, "Alright, well as much as I'd like for this lovely exchange to continue, I have to give stitches to my dear friend."
"Oh, sorry. I can go wait outside," Peter says, turning to leave.
Bruce then speaks up, "No, that's alright. I don't mind." He slightly does, but he also doesn't want to push the kid out. Not a great first impression. Although then again, getting stitches in front of someone doesn't give the greatest first impression either.
Tony grins and says, "Great, now I'll get teach you how to stitch up skin. It's real important, Peter. Never know when you'll get to use it."
Peter nods, while Bruce still looks confused. He can't believe this kid is Spider-Man. Heroes start young, he supposes. God knows when Natasha began.
After giving simple instructions and giving a local anesthetic to Bruce, Tony goes about stitching it up.
The entire process takes minutes at most, but Bruce still feels his anxiety slowly climbing. Tony notices it too.
"Okay!" The engineer announces, slumping down into a chair. "Brucie, this is Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man. Peter, this is Doctor Bruce Banner, when he's not the Hulk." Banner winces at the introduction, but gets a pleasant response out of Peter.
"Really? Cool, I thought so! I knew I recognized your face. I've tried to read a few of your papers, Doctor Banner, and they're really complex, I couldn't understand at least half of it! My chemistry teacher really likes your work too!"
Bruce glances worriedly to Tony, to which the engineer replies, "Yeah. He's always like this. Even after you take him for a walk." He teases.
"Hey!" Peter interjects.
Grinning, Tony says, "See? He even gets excited when you say the 'w' word."
Changing the subject Peter asks, "What happened to your hand?" Thick with curiosity.
"I cut it." Bruce simply states.
"On what?"
"Glass."
"When?"
"Um, like ten minutes ago? Why-"
"What were you doing?"
Seeing Bruce getting flustered, Tony says, "Ooookay, kid, take a breather. Go wait outside. The adults have to talk now. Find Rhodey or something, he needs to be cheered up."
Peter looks disappointed for a second before smiling again. "Okay! Are we gonna go to the lab soon?"
"Sure kid," Tony answers to get him out of his hair, which evidently works. He closes the door after he leaves and as soon as it clicks shut, Tony wastes no time. "Can I check your arms?"
Bruce visibly flinches back before he can stop it and murmurs something inaudible.
Changing his question Tony asks, "I'm not even gonna look at them hard. Okay? Just a quick peek to make sure they're also not bleeding. To make sure the thin blood thing only happened in your hand." He clarifies.
Eventually Bruce nods, knowing he's not going to win the battle.
To the relief of both of the scientists, Bruce's arms aren't bleeding. The incisions are still there though, so the relief was short lived. Neither of them comment on it though.
"Here," Tony says, tossing some gauze at the smaller man. "Just in case the coat slips. I mean, Vis and Rhodey know - sorry about that - but I assume you don't want the kid to know."
So much for anonymity. "Yeah. Okay," Bruce says peeling the gauze from the roll.
With a smile Tony says, "It's nice to know you kept my jacket all this time."
Bruce stops dead in his movements, almost dropping the gauze to the ground. Instead it lands on the bed next to his leg.
"What?"
"Your jacket? It's my old suit jacket. After your last Hulk-out when we were dealing with Ultron, I gave it to you, because you looked cold. Next thing I know, you bamboozled me along with the rest of the team, and poof! You were gone."
"...Oh." Bruce mutters, suddenly feeling extraordinarily self-conscious about wearing the article of clothing.
Tony notices this and says, "Hey man, it's okay. That jacket has been with you to Hell and back, you can keep it."
"Okay,"
"Now c'mon," Tony says, giving him a hand off the bed, even though Bruce could've stood up just fine himself. "Let's go talk to Petey. Legend says that each time you make him smile your soul shines just a bit brighter."
Bruce grins at the joke, but he certainly doesn't doubt it.
(much) Shorter A/N: I was sort of considering writing a little one-shot about Rhodes comforting Tony after Jarvis died (the human), like which was sort of mentioned in this chapter, and if you'd like to read that, just comment!
PS: Reviews make me smile like a toddler in Toys-R-Us
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