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Title: Torn Between the Light and Dark. [3/3]

Summary: Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne may be friends now, but they had a bit of a rough start. It was all Howard's fault.

Warnings: References to child neglect and emotional abuse of one young Tony Stark. Sequel of chapter five and six.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Dark Knight Trilogy, Iron Man, or any of its characters. Sadly.

OoOoO

Tony peered into the open door of the library but found no sight of the Wayne boy. He straightened up and looked back at the butler standing behind him.

"Thank you, sir."

"Just Alfred is fine, young sir."

He blinked up at him. "Okay. Uh. Thank you, Alfred."

The older man offered him a slight smile. "Do you need anything else, sir?"

"Ah, no. I'm fine." Tony bit his lip, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He still had no idea how he was going to make sure the kid stayed put. According to what his father said, the kid should be around five or six, and anything Tony could think to talk about would probably just bore him to death.

He had been creating things well before that age, and he built his first engine when he was six. What did normal kids even do at five or six? Maybe he could convince him to watch TV or something, he thought hopelessly.

"I'll just go in, then," He said hesitantly.

"If you wish,"

Tony turned back to the butler with a frown. What was that supposed to mean? Wayne ordered the butler to bring him to the library and he was supposed to go in there. He shook his head and with one last look at the man took a step into the large room.

"Master Bruce?"

The sudden noise made him jump a little and he didn't dare move further into the room.

"Yes, Alfred?" A little voice replied from somewhere in the large library.

"Come here, young sir. You have a visitor."

A pause. "I do?"

"Yes, sir. Now, be a good host and come here to greet him, please."

There was no reply, but a moment later a dark head was barely visible from the back of the couch, and then the kid was walking toward them.

Tony looked down at hazel eyes peeking from under unruly dark brown bangs as the kid stood before him, dressed in a dark pullover, jeans, and sneakers. It made Tony feel jealous, being stuck in an uncomfortable suit himself.

Bruce flickered his eyes from Alfred to him.

"Hi," He said softly, reaching to brush the hair away from his eyes as he looked up at him. "I'm Bruce."

He looked down at the hand the kid was holding out before taking it. "I'm Tony."

"It's nice to meet you, Tony." The boy said politely, smiling shyly up at him. He had his father's smile, Tony noticed.

They fell silent then.

"Can I offer you anything, young sirs?" The butler asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"No, thank you."

"Maybe we could have some cookies," Bruce suggested in what Tony guessed was suppose to be a casual tone. "I think Mrs. Dawes was going to make peanut butter cookies today."

Alfred looked down at him with an eyebrow arched. "You know very well you are not allowed to eat any snacks before dinner time, Master Bruce. It will spoil your appetite."

Bruce shrugged, big puppy dog eyes directed at the man. "I know, but I thought we could have just one cookie each."

Tony wanted to speak up and say he didn't want any cookies. He wasn't a little kid anymore. That would be considered rude, though, so he stayed silent as the butler and the Wayne kid exchanged a look.

"We'll see about that," The butler replied, but the grin on the boy's face made Tony think maybe he had won the argument after all. "I shall leave you for now, but do not hesitate to call if you need anything else,"

The butler exit the library, leaving both boys looking after him.

Tony could feel Wayne's eyes on him a second later, but rather than address him, he walked further into the library. He noticed a chess set in passing out of the corner of his eye, placed on the thick rug by the couch. He came to a stop in front of one of the huge bookcases lining the walls, looking at the books placed there without really seeing them.

He could hear the soft sound of footsteps behind him a moment later but didn't turn around, arms crossed tightly over his chest.

The silence surprised Tony, who had expected the kid to start chatting about whatever it was little rich boys talked about. He made no attempt to break the silence either, but he looked down at the boy out of the corner of his eye. He caught a flash of sparkling hazel eyes framed by thick lashes.

"Can I help you?" The boy asked politely.

"What?"

"Can I help you find the book you're looking for?" Bruce clarified, looking up at him with curious eyes.

Tony frowned. "I'm not looking for a book."

"Oh," Bruce looked down at his feet, small brow furrowed. He looked up again after a moment. "Do you like to read?"

He shot him a wary look. Where was this kid going with that? "I guess."

"What do you like?"

Tony hesitated before giving a reply. This wasn't part of the plan. He was supposed to come here and make sure the kid stayed away from the study, not have a conversation with him about books. Maybe he could pick a book and pretend to read it. That should shut him up.

"I like reading about interesting stuff. Like engineering." He liked to read other things as well, but he wanted to sound extra smart. Maybe that would help him chase the kid away, but not too far. He started eyeing the books before him.

Bruce scrunched up nose, looking upward at the tall bookcase in front of them. "I'm not sure if we have any books about that. Maybe we could ask Alfred."

"I don't need help."

"Okay." He tilted his head to the side. "What's engineering?"

Tony gave him a strange look. "It's mixing different sciences to help you solve problems." He paused. "Using them helps you to create new things or make things that already exist better."

There was no reply, but the expression on his face seemed too serious for a little kid, making Tony believe maybe he was really thinking about what he told him. That was- strange, though he wasn't really expecting much. Boys his own age didn't care about this, so why should a little kid care about it?

"And you do that? Make new things or make them better?"

"I guess," Tony replied after a moment's thought.

Bruce nodded with a little more enthusiasm. "So, you're an inventor?"

"I've made a couple of robots."

"Really? You have? That's so cool!" The younger boy beamed up at him, but somehow still managed to look a bit shy. It was the eyes and the too-solemn eyebrows, Tony noticed. "Are they like C-3PO? Can they move and do cool stuff? Can they talk?"

Tony opened his mouth to reply but didn't get the chance to speak before the boy spoke again.

"Wait! Can you teach me how to make one too?"

He blinked down at him. Once. Twice. That was not the reaction he had been expecting. Not at all. Other kids (and even some adults) never believe him when he said he could make robots or didn't even cared, and the few he had shown his robots to liked them a lot, but they thought he was weird for making them. And teenagers or adults he could actually talk to about that just ignored or made fun of him because they thought he was just a kid.

He certainly hadn't been expecting the Wayne kid to take such interest in this.

"I can't teach you because I don't have my tools." That and he didn't want to risk getting in trouble for teaching him. It was far from a silly game, after all.

"Oh," Bruce murmured disappointed, small shoulders hunching a little.

Tony shrugged, looking back at the books as he waited for the kid to go back to whatever it was he had been doing now that he knew he wasn't going to get anything from him.

That didn't happen either.

"Did you learn how to make your robots by yourself?"

"Yeah."

The boy's head was tilted to the side. "Do you think maybe I could learn too?"

Tony hesitated before answering. "Maybe. But it's pretty tough and it takes a lot of time to really learn. And I also had help," He added just in case the kid really was going to try to learn. It wasn't exactly a lie, even if Jarvis had helped just a tiny little bit.

Bruce considered that for a moment, dark eyebrows knitted together. He finally nodded. "Your dad helped you?"

It was but an innocent question, yet it made Tony tense up. "No. He was too busy," He wasn't able to hold back the bitterness that accompanied the words. That was what his father always said when Tony asked to spend time with him. At least until he just stopped asking.

He couldn't even remember the last time he tried.

"I don't like it when my dad gets busy too. He's a doctor and he needs to go away to help people get better."

Uncomfortable, Tony looked away from the honest and bright eyes. He didn't think a man who took his son on vacations just a month ago was anything like his father, but of course, the kid didn't know that, and Tony wasn't about to tell him. Why would he?

His wandering brown eyes caught sight of the abandoned chessboard the kid, Bruce had been playing with. It was the perfect diversion from a conversation he didn't want to continue.

"Do you know how to play chess?"

Bruce followed his gaze. "Not yet. Dad is teaching me, though."

'Are you kidding me?' Tony thought, barely stopping from rolling his eyes or even throwing his arms up in frustration. He knew it wasn't the kid's fault that his dad actually liked to spend time with him unlike Tony's, but still. This whole thing was just so ridiculous it wasn't even funny.

Tony knew how to play chess, of course, but it was Jarvis who taught him not his father. Because his father was a busy and important man and Jarvis was the butler paid to mind his bothersome son. He liked to think Jarvis enjoyed spending time with him, sometimes, but that was stupid.

If his own father didn't like to spend time with him, why would he? The butler spent time with him just because he had to.

With his mother's help, he managed to get his father to agree to play chess with him a couple of times, but Tony lost too fast for Howard's liking, so they hadn't played in a long while.

"Alfred teaches me too." Bruce continued, oblivious to the dark turn Tony's thoughts had taken. "He's so good at playing chess that he even beats my dad sometimes! And he's going to teach me how to win too!"

No wonder Alfred reminded him of Jarvis, Tony thought with a small smile.

"Wanna play?" He asked after a moment.

The young boy gave him a confused look. "I don't know how to play yet," He repeated.

Tony shrugged. "Playing with someone else can help you learn too."

"Okay," He agreed easily.

They turned around and walked back together to where the boy had been before his arrival.

"This is nice," Tony commented as soon as he saw the wooden chess board. It was old and simple, yet beautiful. With its hand-carved pieces and polished board decorated with a stylized 'W'.

"I know, and it's going to be mine once I learn to play," Bruce commented, plopping on the rug with a smile. "That's how Dad got it from his father too."

The older boy said nothing as he sat down, putting down the knight he had picked.

They quickly agreed to put the chess board on the center table and sat cross-legged on the ground on opposite sides. Bruce claimed the dark pieces then, and Tony took the others with a shrug and started setting them on its places.

The butler arrived before they started the game, carrying a tray.

"I brought you some refreshments, sirs," Alfred announced before placing a plate with cookies and two glasses of lemonade on an empty side of the table.

"Thank you, Alfie." Bruce beamed up at the butler. "You're the best!"

Tony offered a quiet thanks as well, eyeing the cookies. The smell alone was making his mouth water.

"You're welcome, young sirs."

The butler hadn't finished saying the words when Bruce already had a cookie in his hand, chewing happily. Tony hesitated a second even after Alfred left before taking one as well, and the proceeded to melt after the first bite.

Now he understood Bruce's fascination with them. Never in his life had Tony eaten something that tasted this good.

The cookies didn't last long, sadly, but at least they had something fun to entertain themselves with.

Tony looked up from the board, watching the small eyebrows knitted together as Bruce looked down at his pieces, contemplating his move. There were cookie crumbs on his face.

Maybe he could go a little easy on the kid, Tony thought. He wasn't so bad after all, and he even got him delicious cookies.

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a/n: Can you tell I had no idea how to end this? *winces* I hope it wasn't too bad. Also, I'm very sorry for taking so long to update this. It was supposed to take me just a month or two, but that obviously didn't happen. I got a bit sidetracked with other fics and then life got in the way. Things have been very crazy lately.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the conclusion, and thank you so much for reading and leaving me wonderful comments and kudos as well. :D