Happy (Very Belated) Birthday Celeste 9
Title: Saving Dum-E
Characters/Pairings: Tony/Bruce, Tony/Pepper, onesided Dum-E/Tony, mention of Thor/Steve
Words: 4,804
Genre: Humour, hurt/comfort
Rating: T
Summary: Tony has some help putting Dum-E back together again.
Spoilers/Disclaimers: This is set after the Avengers and after Iron Man 3, so if you haven't seen IM3 you might want to first. I do not own the scene at end which is taken from the after credits of IM3, but it's tweaked a little! Also I have taken the liberty of 'predicting' what will happen in Thor2 and Captain America 2 (Well it's more wishful thinking on my part) just to keep me happy.
Author's Note: Written for celeste9 for her birthday some time ago. I had asked her for a prompt and pairing and she so wanted me to do this, Bruce and Tony working to repair Dum-E. It was originally intended to just be a short but then it became this. I hope you don't mind the wait. Beta'd by fififolle but any mistakes or things that don't make sense is all down to me!
Tony Stark was making a new start in life.
With the reactor removed from his chest, it certainly felt like a new start. But in the light of these new changes, Tony still had to retrieve the remains of his robot AIs. While the mechanical arms were a part of his past, he couldn’t abandon them or leave them to rot with the rest of his Malibu home. Dum-E and the four others were some of the first things he had ever created and it didn’t feel right to let them go.
Tony couldn’t ignore the niggling tingles of doubt and anxiety in his head which had accompanied the nightmares of New York. The panic attacks, which followed the nightmares, had caught him by surprise but they became but irritating pin pricks in his mind when he and Pepper moved back to Stark Tower. Then when the other Avengers returned, the nagging doubt, the nightmares and anxiety intensified again. He could never have imagined that retrieving the remains of his inventions would be the key to freeing himself of the irritating and relentless niggles once and for all.
He took the robotic arms back to the tower and set their remains up in one of his labs. He had every intention of starting their reconstruction, but as the hours went by, all Tony did was stare at the parts. He didn’t know why he didn’t touch them, but it was dark outside before he eventually did.
When he picked up Dum-E’s pincer, reality came back quite suddenly and he snapped out of his dazed trance, nearly toppling off the stool. The coffee he had made ages ago was cold and the room was dark except for the faint pulsing blue glow of the computer projections.
As he became more aware, Tony heard the sound of the door opening behind him and then a stream of bright white light spilled into the room from the corridor. An unmistakable shadow cast across the wall. Tony smiled. He always thought Banner’s shadow was larger than normal, as if the Big Guy was casting it even though he was dormant. It was just Bruce, looking even more haggard and worn than before.
“Do you need help?” Bruce walked slowly into the room and up to the bench where Dum-E lay.
“Are you serious?” Tony blinked a couple of times so he could focus on the other scientist. Gone were the longer waves of dark hair that Banner usually sported, they were cropped short, and his once smooth clean shaven face was now hidden beneath a beard, a beard peppered with white. The poor fella, it must be the stress. “Are you really asking me this?”
"Yeah, I'm asking."
“Fine. Pull up a stool.”
Bruce did so and sat right next to Stark, looking at the many broken parts and destroyed circuits. He opened the tool box and stared in dismay at the haphazard disarray of Stark’s tools, but the frustrated sigh from him was duly noted as Stark held out his hand.
I don’t like to be handed things.
Bruce thought about what that hand and the gesture meant, especially knowing what he knew. Stark wasn’t making an issue out of it though, he continued to hold out his hand and without either of them saying a word, Bruce finally gave him one of the tools and they began to work on reconstructing the robots.
It was a simple enough job. Dum-E’s, and its predecessors AI composites, were the basic level and his structure was just the same. Tony could have easily done it himself, but working in unison with Bruce, communicating with only nods, little grunts and gestures, it was comforting. Tony found that he was relaxed in Bruce’s company, everything went smoothly and there was very little effort or frustration and that never happened when other people were around him.
It was well known that Tony couldn’t concentrate with others poking their noses in whilst he was working, even Pepper. While he had toned down on the projects, for her, he still found that people were a nuisance if they were in the same room as him, he couldn’t focus.
Banner was different and he liked that.
Tony smiled as he was handed another tool by the scientist, the exact one he needed for the finishing touches, without even asking for it. The guy knew what he needed and it was perfect. Everything flowed so naturally and everything was calm and peaceful.
Tony Stark worked on the robots and Dum-E with Bruce Banner and it wasn’t a chore. There was one brief coffee break, where they sat in blissful silence drinking the stimulating beverage, before they returned to work.
When Dum-E was nearly finished, Tony paused, looking at the AI components. His natural flow with Bruce was interrupted by a problem he really didn’t want to have.
“It’s a tough decision, isn’t it?” Bruce’s soft spoken voice broke the peaceful silence that not even JARVIS had dared to break, and instead of making a snide comment, Tony simply tilted his head and went ‘huh?’
“You’re contemplating whether to upgrade his AI.” Bruce turned to face him; the stool creaked a little with protest. “You want to because you’re fed up with him not comprehending simple instructions but you don’t want to because then…well, he wouldn’t be him.”
“You say ‘him’ like it’s a person.” Tony grit his teeth, made an uncomfortable grimace and slipped off his stool to stretch his legs. Bruce smiled at such a reaction and scratched his beard before placing some of the tools Tony had left out back into the box.
“You’ve programmed him with feelings,” he said. “You’ve given him a name…you’ve retrieved him from the wreck of your home but left much more sophisticated and more advanced tech to rot. You treat him like a person.”
“I treat Dum-E like dirt.”
“Because you want to? Does it make you feel better?”
“It’s a machine! Hey! Are you trying to ruin the moment we’re having? The bond we’re building here? This connection?”
“We’re connecting?”
“Apparently I’m good at connecting with people now. Kids love me.”
“I’m not a kid.”
“Are you saying that you don’t love me as well? Did the past four hours mean nothing to you? We worked well together…we always do. What’s not to love?”
Bruce chuckled and scratched the back of his head. “Do you really want me to answer that?”
“How could anyone not? I’m adorable.” Tony let out a yawn and then ruffled his fingers through his hair. “Look, let’s not ruin what we have going on here.”
“Which is what, exactly?”
“We were bonding. That’s what people do, yeah? We were having a moment. It was very touching.” Tony’s sarcastic tone wasn’t quite as sarcastic as it usually was. There was a brief lapse as his head turned away, but Bruce must have known that he was still joking by the casual aloof manner that he enjoyed.
“Oh! We're having one of those moments are we? I’m flattered you think of me that way, does Pepper know?”
“Hey! Don’t sully this!” Tony smiled cheekily.
Bruce laughed and got up to stretch his legs too. The two men circled the table, looking at Dum-E’s completed form and then at each other, deep in thought about what to do next. They both eyed the open panel on Dum-E’s side, where his AI and some of the last remaining components needed to be.
--------------
“So? What do you want to do?” asked Bruce, noting Tony yawn several more times. The coffee was clearly not helping him fight fatigue, but then Pepper had said he was still struggling with getting any kind of rest. “Upgrade him? Give him a higher IQ?”
“That will take out all the fun of teasing it and the dunce cap will be redundant.” Tony yawned again, his eyes began to droop but then they snapped open, wider than before as he forced himself to remain awake.
“What about the option to have both?” Bruce asked. “I could quite easily incorporate a…”
“I know where you’re going with this and hell no! I don’t want it to be schizophrenic! It’ll be chaos! No… Let’s keep it the way it is.”
“Will it make you happy?”
“Ruining the moment! Ruining the moment! Can you not do that?”
Bruce held up his hands in surrender and allowed Tony to do his thing.
But just like before, Bruce was pulled into the pleasant silent partnership. They worked in utter contentment, like scientists focused on a world changing project. He helped where he could in repairing the circuits, but eventually Tony finished the job and snapped the casing shut.
When the AI rose back to life, there was a little whine, as if the thing was confused and disorientated, then Dum-E spotted Stark on his sensors and the whine was a happy exclamation. He then moved forward towards Stark.
“No!” Tony held a hand up in front of Dum-E’s pincers, blocking him and preventing the arm from attempting to caress him. “What did I tell you about being over sentimental?”
Dum-E cooed again, clearly it had forgotten what its creator had mentioned before and tried to get past the hand block. Bruce watched as Tony and Dum-E had this little battle, one wanting to touch, the other really not.
“I’ll dismantle you again! I’ll use you as a wall trophy! Ah! Ah! Don’t touch me!”
Bruce shook his head in dismay. It was a strange relationship, but then any kind of relationship was strange with Tony Stark. No matter what Tony said, Dum-E wasn’t just a machine. Intentional on the Iron Man’s part or not, Dum-E had feelings.
“Tony…sit down. You’re upsetting him.”
“I’m upsetting him?” Tony went to slump onto the stool, but as he sank down, he let out another yawn and nearly missed it. One cheek slipped against it and he would have fallen to the floor if Bruce hadn’t stopped him, both his arms wrapping around his waist.
“Whoa! Steady there!”
Both of them staggered and Bruce managed to eventually set Stark down on the small leather sofa tucked up against the wall.
“I didn’t say you could touch me either!”
Bruce just smiled and waited as Tony yawned consecutively before completely nodding off in a matter of seconds. Tiny little snores followed and Iron Man was zonked.
Bruce heard the joyful whine of Dum-E again and when he looked to the robot, it was clear the AI recognised him as well. Unlike Tony, Bruce allowed the arm to gently rub up and down his chest with affection.
“It’s good to see you again, too,” Bruce said, giving the thing a hug. Dum-E cooed, most grateful for his kindness. “Why do you let him treat you like that?”
Dum-E cooed again.
“A relationship like that isn’t healthy.”
The following whine sounded very sad.
“Just don’t be so needy with him.”
The other sound was almost heart breaking, but Bruce patted Dum-E gently in consolation.
“I can help you if you’d like. But you’ve both been through a lot. Go on standby for a while, I’ll look after him and when he wakes we can get on with the tests.”
Dum-E freaked out, the high pitched squeal and its jerking movements showed it clearly enough, so Bruce once again reassured him with easing strokes.
“Hey! They’re simple non-intrusive ones, passive scans only, I promise. We need to check everything is working properly, I won’t let him take you apart.”
Dum-E cooed with relief and eventually Bruce’s motions soothed the robot and it powered down into standby mode. Bruce was then left alone.
He stood in the middle of the dark lab, gazing at the still forms of Dum-E, Butterfingers and the other robots, feeling an odd sense of calm. The Big Guy was still there beneath that calm, Bruce could feel him, but this was as about docile as he had ever felt the Hulk be.
Bruce slowly began to pack away the mess. As he moved around the rest of the lab, he cleaned up some previously discarded burger wrappers and screwed up pieces of paper, amongst various other trinkets and objects Stark had deemed irrelevant. Once he finished getting the lab into some kind of order-the clocks reading 3am--he sat down next to Stark, who surprisingly didn’t wake as Banner’s weight caused the sofa to sink. Stark’s snores had increased and Bruce saw his limbs twitch and jerk as he dreamed.
While it was nice that Stark was sleeping at long last, the expressions on his face made it all too clear that it wasn’t a peaceful sleep. The Big Guy stirred a little knowing that. The Big Guy didn’t like it that Stark was being disturbed in his slumber.
“He still has nightmares.”
Bruce turned suddenly but he calmed when he saw Pepper walking cautiously into the room. She looked tired herself, but the warm smile on her face probably hid a lot of the fatigue she was actually feeling. She walked over to the sofa and draped a blanket over Tony, her fingers caressing his cheek and teasing the spikes of his hair after she did so.
“And you? How are you coping?” Bruce asked, shifting as Stark kicked out a little, his foot catching the back of Bruce’s leg.
Pepper shrugged her shoulders.
“I’m as good as someone can be who’s recovering from having a bioengineered weapon injected into her. Tony and I have been through a lot, obviously not like Thor and Captain Rogers, but we still have each other. We’re fortunate that we haven’t…that none of us…”
“Died.”
“Yes. I don’t know what either of us would do if we lost one another.”
“I can’t imagine what the other two are going through,” Bruce shook his head and scraped a hand through his short hair, “to lose a brother, a woman you love…or your best friend? It must be painful for them. ”
“They are coping as well as can be expected. Thor and Steven… they’re bonding more through their loss. Tony tries to help them too but you know he’s not really comfortable with sharing those kind of feelings, his own or others.”
“You have the patience of a saint, Miss Potts.” Bruce smiled. Pepper bowed her head in appreciation.
“You’re something else though, Doctor Banner.” Pepper sat down on the sofa’s arm, watching over Stark even though she was addressing Banner. “Tony doesn’t do well with others, we all know this, with certain exceptions. You’re of interest to him. He’s fascinated with you. When you were here after New York, Tony was different, more at ease. It was a very noticeable difference, even Happy commented on it. When we went back to Malibu, he mentioned you a lot. He immersed himself in his work and whenever I saw him, he remarked how he wished you were there. It was pretty much Bruce this….Big Guy that.”
“I’m flattered…I think.”
Pepper chuckled. “When Tony talks about anyone but himself, you should be. You and I have this effect on him…”
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ here.”
“But…he needs to talk to someone. You can see that he’s missing the reactor?” Pepper gestured to Stark’s chest. Bruce nodded. He had noticed the lack of the reactor’s glow through his Black Sabbath t-shirt. “If you could…? I don’t know, talk to him? Get him to open up?”
“Whoa! I’m not a shrink. I don’t have the temperament!”
Pepper stroked Stark’s hair one more time and rose from the sofa.
“I know, but don’t do it as any kind of doctor, do it as a friend. I’m certain he’ll open up for you.”
“And he won’t open up for the woman he loves?”
Pepper smirked. “He’s already done so for me, in his own way. I accept it, but that doesn’t mean I have to like the fact that he’s still bottling things up. I know he’ll talk to you. Sit with him, listen to him…”
Bruce cringed and chuckled. “Oh god, do I really have to?”
Pepper laughed, she had such a lovely laugh.
“I would be grateful, Doctor Banner.”
“Bruce. Sure. I’ll talk to him…or let him talk.”
The look of relief and happiness on her face was evident. This was so important to her.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Bruce was more than a little startled when Pepper Potts leaned down and kissed him on his forehead. He felt his cheeks flush and then to his further astonishment, he saw Pepper let out a huge yawn.
So. She hadn’t been resting either.
She bent over and kissed Stark in the same place and yawned once again before walking out of the room. At last she could rest as well.
When the door closed after her, it didn’t take long for Doctor Bruce Banner to fall into slumber himself.
--------------
The sight of the ships, the black upon black, was the end of everything, not just his own life.
He had brought the missile through to prevent it from going off and killing others. He was doing what Captain Rogers thought he would never do, making the sacrifice. He was willing to end his life so the people of New York would live…a little while longer.
The fear choked him when all power in his suit died. When the silence began to drown him and when the cold crept over his body, his eyes couldn’t look away from the alien ships ready to invade his homeworld.
Then there was a spark of hope, a pretty damned big and nuclear spark to be accurate. It nearly blinded him, but after the explosion, when he saw that nothing remained of the beings called the Chitauri, Tony Stark knew that he would fall into oblivion himself.
Pepper had missed his call. He couldn’t say goodbye.
JARVIS was cut off.
Stark closed his eyes and let himself fall.
This would be the end of him.
He never expected he would drop back through the portal just as it closed.
He never thought he would fall into strong arms, that he would be saved.
He was enveloped, sheltered. He was lain upon the ground and the mask was ripped from his face and the air rushed back into his lungs. Stark wanted to rest, to sleep, just for a little while but he wasn’t allowed.
The roar bolted him back into consciousness and Stark blinked several times to relieve the stinging pain in his eyes.
A wonderful but frightening sight greeted him.
“Hey…”
She was on fire, or appeared to be. Her skin was glowing a fiery red, just like her hair and she was kneeling down so close to him, her red eyes burning with worry and concern. She whispered his name again and again, but he wasn’t going to leave. He didn’t want to leave her alone.
“Hey.” Tony reached out his metal hand and cupped her face. “You’re okay. Thank god…you’re okay. I thought you died. I thought I’d lost you.”
He pulled her down to him and kissed her with everything he had, with everything he felt.
Something was wrong….
The red turned to green.
-------------------------
There was a growl. A murmuring growl against Tony’s mouth and instantly he jerked awake.
His eyes widened in surprise as he saw who it was he was kissing and who it was who was kissing him back.
Pinned beneath his friend, Tony couldn’t move. Bruce was now upon him, dragged down by Stark and their mouths were interlocked and moving together with a hard deep longing. Bruce Banner was not quite as awake as Tony was and so when Stark began to struggle, it only enticed the drowsy scientist on more. There was another growl and damn…the grip on Tony’s hips, the penetration of Bruce’s tongue and the raw scratches of his beard against Tony’s face…it made him slowly give in. He allowed the kiss to continue until Bruce finally snapped out of it.
"What the hell?"
Bruce leapt away from him and the two men then jumped up away from the sofa, staring at each other, gasping for breath.
“Okay, what just happened?” Tony stammered.
“That’s what I’d like to know.”
For the second time the two men jumped in shock and turned to the door, to see Pepper Potts leaning against the door frame, with a very bemused look upon her face.
Neither Tony nor Bruce could utter a word. Their faces flushed and they pointed at each other as if to accuse the other of instigating things. Pepper only smiled more showing that she really wasn’t surprised about what she was seeing.
“It’s not what it looks like,” said Bruce nervously.
“What he said.” Tony pointed to him and mumbled sheepishly, “A case of mistaken identity.”
Pepper bit her lip and held back a burst of laughter that was obviously wanting to be released.
“You mistook Doctor Banner for me?”
“No! Well, yes…but not really!”
“It was dark, we were tired. I didn’t know where I was.”
The two of them babbled on, excuses left right and centre came from their mouths.
“I was the kissee not the kisser. It was all his fault, I’m utterly blameless!”
“I think the Hulk might be gay.”
“Really?” Tony looked to Bruce with a genuine look of surprise. “That’s who you’re blaming here?”
“It’s worth a shot.” Bruce shrugged his shoulders and scratched the back of his head. Tony nodded in agreement, before they both realised they should still be apologising to Pepper and convincing her it was what it was…a mistake. Well, kind of.
Pepper didn’t want to hear any more. She was obviously going to crack up with laughter if they carried on like this. She held a hand up to silence them and was clearly grateful when they did.
“You really don’t have to try and convince me of anything, gentlemen,” she said, barely managing to keep a straight face, “you don’t need to say a word. I understand. However, there is someone else that might need an explanation.”
Pepper pointed behind them and it was at that moment that the two men heard the little whine.
Dum-E wasn’t in standby anymore.
“Oh no.” Stark pinched the bridge of his nose and took several deep breaths. “I don’t need this. Dum-E, this doesn’t concern you.”
The robot whined again, it sounded so sad.
“I’ll let you three be. You’ve got some issues to sort out.” Pepper left, laughing as she took her cell from her pocket. She dialled up a number and began to speak. “Happy…you’ll never guess what happened.”
Dum-E moaned again. The robot continued to do so, but the two men couldn’t move. Now there was no one else, it was just them here, they had to try and get over the very awkward tension between them. Dum-E’s distress at having witnessed their interaction was not helping matters.
Eventually they did the only thing they could do.
Make light of the situation.
“So what do you reckon on that kiss?” asked Stark, folding his arms across his chest and looking anywhere except at Banner. “On a scale of 1 to 10?”
“I’d say about a 6.” Bruce pretended to cough, picked up a tablet and activated the holoscreen.
“6? Really?” Tony’s face scrunched up with disbelief. “I should rate at least a 9.”
“Maybe a 7 then.”
“You were a 7.”
“You didn’t react like it was a 7.”
There was another long drag of silence, with the exception of Dum-E’s still whimpering sounds. Stark really wasn’t able to stand it.
He didn’t want to deal with any of this, not with Dum-E and certainly not with the curious and insane feelings he was experiencing now. Where he had felt more than comfortable and at ease with Banner, it wasn’t like that anymore. The kiss was stirring up sensations he had only before felt for Pepper and deep down it was greatly discomforting and exciting at the same time.
That kiss was no 7, more like 9 or 10 on Stark’s scale to be precise.
He was even more confused as Banner began to comfort Dum-E, soothing the robot with hushed and whispering tones and strokes of his hand. Why? Why was Bruce doing that, wasting his sentiments on a machine?
Did he really think that Dum-E had emotions and feelings like a human being? It was just a simple service droid, like all the others. It didn’t feel or have a soul, it was programmed with an intelligence yes, it was able to learn (supposedly!), but not to have sentiment. What Dum-E was expressing was nothing more than adaptive reasoning, a means to get attention.
“Someone is jealous.”
“It’s not jealous, it’s not capable of being jealous,” Tony snapped, a little harsher than he intended.
“I wasn’t talking about the robot.”
Tony Stark became speechless. The dark shadows against Bruce’s face, the green flash in his eyes and the deep growling chuckle that rumbled in his chest, completely threw Tony off balance. Not much fazed him, but with Bruce facing him, grinning, he certainly was.
They were close. They were almost touching again and Tony felt himself moving in, tilting his head, wetting his lips with a sweep of his tongue. Bruce did the same and just as their lips were about to meet-they both smirked -a sorrowful whine pulled them apart.
Stark grimaced and was going to berate the robot, but Bruce’s hand on his arm, gently squeezing him, prevented him from doing so.
“He saved your life…you saved his,” Bruce said, as he handed Tony the diagnostic computer tablet, “and if you don’t want to admit that he does actually have feelings, can you at least do something nice in a way of thank you for him?”
Tony glared at Bruce but then huffed heavily.
“An upgrade?”
“At the very least.”
Tony bit his lip and scratched at his goatee. “Fine. You going to help me?”
“Of course.”
“Good.”
“Then afterwards, you and me are going to have a talk.”
Tony blinked a couple of times and then scowled again.
“About….the ki--us?”
“Amongst other things.” Bruce slowly reached his hand out and touched at Stark’s chest, where the reactor had once been. “Amongst other things.”
Stark smiled and flipped open the tool box. He patted Bruce on the back, rubbing his shoulders before picking out a tool and approaching Dum-E.
The thing cooed affectionately and reluctantly Stark allowed the robot to rub against his arm. Dum-E had saved his life…that must mean something.
“Let’s get you upgraded then.”
Dum-E was more than pleased and so was Tony, when he and Bruce once again began to work together in a blissful and easy silence, the occasional suggestive smile exchanging between them.
A new start…well it was certainly going to be interesting.
-----------------
"You know, and thank you, by the way, for listening. There's just something about getting it off my chest and putting it out there in the atmosphere instead of holding this in. I mean, this is what gets people sick, you know? Wow, I had no idea you were such a good listener. To be able to share all of my intimate thoughts and my experiences with someone, it just cuts the weight of it in half, you know. It's like a snake swallowing its own tail. Everything comes full circle. And...and the fact that you've been able to help me process...”
Bruce woke suddenly, disorientated at first but when he saw Tony looking at him he felt a pang of guilt. Oh no, he had fallen asleep.
“So, uh...?”
“You with me?” asked Stark.
He wasn’t quite.
“I was, yeah. Mm-hmm. We were...uh, we were at, uh...”
“You actively napping?”
There was no point in lying.
“I...I was...I... I... I drifted.”
“Where did I lose you?”
“Elevator in Switzerland.”
“So you heard none of it?”
Oh god he was going to pay.
Bruce hoped that Tony was going to be at least a little bit forgiving, considering what they had been through, what they had shared yesterday.
There was no chance of that.
Tony smiled and he began to talk once more. “You know what? Now that I think about it, oh, God, my original wound. 1983, alright?”
“Yes.” Bruce groaned.
“I'm 14 years old, I still have a nanny? That was weird.”
His whole life story…Stark was going to tell his whole life story. As much as it interested Bruce, he didn’t think he could manage to listen to it all. Maybe if he kissed him again…he might reconsider?
“No chance, Banner!” Stark flashed him a big grin and winked. “Maybe later. Now…where was I?”
Characters/Pairings: Tony/Bruce, Tony/Pepper, onesided Dum-E/Tony, mention of Thor/Steve
Words: 4,804
Genre: Humour, hurt/comfort
Rating: T
Summary: Tony has some help putting Dum-E back together again.
Spoilers/Disclaimers: This is set after the Avengers and after Iron Man 3, so if you haven't seen IM3 you might want to first. I do not own the scene at end which is taken from the after credits of IM3, but it's tweaked a little! Also I have taken the liberty of 'predicting' what will happen in Thor2 and Captain America 2 (Well it's more wishful thinking on my part) just to keep me happy.
Author's Note: Written for celeste9 for her birthday some time ago. I had asked her for a prompt and pairing and she so wanted me to do this, Bruce and Tony working to repair Dum-E. It was originally intended to just be a short but then it became this. I hope you don't mind the wait. Beta'd by fififolle but any mistakes or things that don't make sense is all down to me!
Tony Stark was making a new start in life.
With the reactor removed from his chest, it certainly felt like a new start. But in the light of these new changes, Tony still had to retrieve the remains of his robot AIs. While the mechanical arms were a part of his past, he couldn’t abandon them or leave them to rot with the rest of his Malibu home. Dum-E and the four others were some of the first things he had ever created and it didn’t feel right to let them go.
Tony couldn’t ignore the niggling tingles of doubt and anxiety in his head which had accompanied the nightmares of New York. The panic attacks, which followed the nightmares, had caught him by surprise but they became but irritating pin pricks in his mind when he and Pepper moved back to Stark Tower. Then when the other Avengers returned, the nagging doubt, the nightmares and anxiety intensified again. He could never have imagined that retrieving the remains of his inventions would be the key to freeing himself of the irritating and relentless niggles once and for all.
He took the robotic arms back to the tower and set their remains up in one of his labs. He had every intention of starting their reconstruction, but as the hours went by, all Tony did was stare at the parts. He didn’t know why he didn’t touch them, but it was dark outside before he eventually did.
When he picked up Dum-E’s pincer, reality came back quite suddenly and he snapped out of his dazed trance, nearly toppling off the stool. The coffee he had made ages ago was cold and the room was dark except for the faint pulsing blue glow of the computer projections.
As he became more aware, Tony heard the sound of the door opening behind him and then a stream of bright white light spilled into the room from the corridor. An unmistakable shadow cast across the wall. Tony smiled. He always thought Banner’s shadow was larger than normal, as if the Big Guy was casting it even though he was dormant. It was just Bruce, looking even more haggard and worn than before.
“Do you need help?” Bruce walked slowly into the room and up to the bench where Dum-E lay.
“Are you serious?” Tony blinked a couple of times so he could focus on the other scientist. Gone were the longer waves of dark hair that Banner usually sported, they were cropped short, and his once smooth clean shaven face was now hidden beneath a beard, a beard peppered with white. The poor fella, it must be the stress. “Are you really asking me this?”
"Yeah, I'm asking."
“Fine. Pull up a stool.”
Bruce did so and sat right next to Stark, looking at the many broken parts and destroyed circuits. He opened the tool box and stared in dismay at the haphazard disarray of Stark’s tools, but the frustrated sigh from him was duly noted as Stark held out his hand.
I don’t like to be handed things.
Bruce thought about what that hand and the gesture meant, especially knowing what he knew. Stark wasn’t making an issue out of it though, he continued to hold out his hand and without either of them saying a word, Bruce finally gave him one of the tools and they began to work on reconstructing the robots.
It was a simple enough job. Dum-E’s, and its predecessors AI composites, were the basic level and his structure was just the same. Tony could have easily done it himself, but working in unison with Bruce, communicating with only nods, little grunts and gestures, it was comforting. Tony found that he was relaxed in Bruce’s company, everything went smoothly and there was very little effort or frustration and that never happened when other people were around him.
It was well known that Tony couldn’t concentrate with others poking their noses in whilst he was working, even Pepper. While he had toned down on the projects, for her, he still found that people were a nuisance if they were in the same room as him, he couldn’t focus.
Banner was different and he liked that.
Tony smiled as he was handed another tool by the scientist, the exact one he needed for the finishing touches, without even asking for it. The guy knew what he needed and it was perfect. Everything flowed so naturally and everything was calm and peaceful.
Tony Stark worked on the robots and Dum-E with Bruce Banner and it wasn’t a chore. There was one brief coffee break, where they sat in blissful silence drinking the stimulating beverage, before they returned to work.
When Dum-E was nearly finished, Tony paused, looking at the AI components. His natural flow with Bruce was interrupted by a problem he really didn’t want to have.
“It’s a tough decision, isn’t it?” Bruce’s soft spoken voice broke the peaceful silence that not even JARVIS had dared to break, and instead of making a snide comment, Tony simply tilted his head and went ‘huh?’
“You’re contemplating whether to upgrade his AI.” Bruce turned to face him; the stool creaked a little with protest. “You want to because you’re fed up with him not comprehending simple instructions but you don’t want to because then…well, he wouldn’t be him.”
“You say ‘him’ like it’s a person.” Tony grit his teeth, made an uncomfortable grimace and slipped off his stool to stretch his legs. Bruce smiled at such a reaction and scratched his beard before placing some of the tools Tony had left out back into the box.
“You’ve programmed him with feelings,” he said. “You’ve given him a name…you’ve retrieved him from the wreck of your home but left much more sophisticated and more advanced tech to rot. You treat him like a person.”
“I treat Dum-E like dirt.”
“Because you want to? Does it make you feel better?”
“It’s a machine! Hey! Are you trying to ruin the moment we’re having? The bond we’re building here? This connection?”
“We’re connecting?”
“Apparently I’m good at connecting with people now. Kids love me.”
“I’m not a kid.”
“Are you saying that you don’t love me as well? Did the past four hours mean nothing to you? We worked well together…we always do. What’s not to love?”
Bruce chuckled and scratched the back of his head. “Do you really want me to answer that?”
“How could anyone not? I’m adorable.” Tony let out a yawn and then ruffled his fingers through his hair. “Look, let’s not ruin what we have going on here.”
“Which is what, exactly?”
“We were bonding. That’s what people do, yeah? We were having a moment. It was very touching.” Tony’s sarcastic tone wasn’t quite as sarcastic as it usually was. There was a brief lapse as his head turned away, but Bruce must have known that he was still joking by the casual aloof manner that he enjoyed.
“Oh! We're having one of those moments are we? I’m flattered you think of me that way, does Pepper know?”
“Hey! Don’t sully this!” Tony smiled cheekily.
Bruce laughed and got up to stretch his legs too. The two men circled the table, looking at Dum-E’s completed form and then at each other, deep in thought about what to do next. They both eyed the open panel on Dum-E’s side, where his AI and some of the last remaining components needed to be.
--------------
“So? What do you want to do?” asked Bruce, noting Tony yawn several more times. The coffee was clearly not helping him fight fatigue, but then Pepper had said he was still struggling with getting any kind of rest. “Upgrade him? Give him a higher IQ?”
“That will take out all the fun of teasing it and the dunce cap will be redundant.” Tony yawned again, his eyes began to droop but then they snapped open, wider than before as he forced himself to remain awake.
“What about the option to have both?” Bruce asked. “I could quite easily incorporate a…”
“I know where you’re going with this and hell no! I don’t want it to be schizophrenic! It’ll be chaos! No… Let’s keep it the way it is.”
“Will it make you happy?”
“Ruining the moment! Ruining the moment! Can you not do that?”
Bruce held up his hands in surrender and allowed Tony to do his thing.
But just like before, Bruce was pulled into the pleasant silent partnership. They worked in utter contentment, like scientists focused on a world changing project. He helped where he could in repairing the circuits, but eventually Tony finished the job and snapped the casing shut.
When the AI rose back to life, there was a little whine, as if the thing was confused and disorientated, then Dum-E spotted Stark on his sensors and the whine was a happy exclamation. He then moved forward towards Stark.
“No!” Tony held a hand up in front of Dum-E’s pincers, blocking him and preventing the arm from attempting to caress him. “What did I tell you about being over sentimental?”
Dum-E cooed again, clearly it had forgotten what its creator had mentioned before and tried to get past the hand block. Bruce watched as Tony and Dum-E had this little battle, one wanting to touch, the other really not.
“I’ll dismantle you again! I’ll use you as a wall trophy! Ah! Ah! Don’t touch me!”
Bruce shook his head in dismay. It was a strange relationship, but then any kind of relationship was strange with Tony Stark. No matter what Tony said, Dum-E wasn’t just a machine. Intentional on the Iron Man’s part or not, Dum-E had feelings.
“Tony…sit down. You’re upsetting him.”
“I’m upsetting him?” Tony went to slump onto the stool, but as he sank down, he let out another yawn and nearly missed it. One cheek slipped against it and he would have fallen to the floor if Bruce hadn’t stopped him, both his arms wrapping around his waist.
“Whoa! Steady there!”
Both of them staggered and Bruce managed to eventually set Stark down on the small leather sofa tucked up against the wall.
“I didn’t say you could touch me either!”
Bruce just smiled and waited as Tony yawned consecutively before completely nodding off in a matter of seconds. Tiny little snores followed and Iron Man was zonked.
Bruce heard the joyful whine of Dum-E again and when he looked to the robot, it was clear the AI recognised him as well. Unlike Tony, Bruce allowed the arm to gently rub up and down his chest with affection.
“It’s good to see you again, too,” Bruce said, giving the thing a hug. Dum-E cooed, most grateful for his kindness. “Why do you let him treat you like that?”
Dum-E cooed again.
“A relationship like that isn’t healthy.”
The following whine sounded very sad.
“Just don’t be so needy with him.”
The other sound was almost heart breaking, but Bruce patted Dum-E gently in consolation.
“I can help you if you’d like. But you’ve both been through a lot. Go on standby for a while, I’ll look after him and when he wakes we can get on with the tests.”
Dum-E freaked out, the high pitched squeal and its jerking movements showed it clearly enough, so Bruce once again reassured him with easing strokes.
“Hey! They’re simple non-intrusive ones, passive scans only, I promise. We need to check everything is working properly, I won’t let him take you apart.”
Dum-E cooed with relief and eventually Bruce’s motions soothed the robot and it powered down into standby mode. Bruce was then left alone.
He stood in the middle of the dark lab, gazing at the still forms of Dum-E, Butterfingers and the other robots, feeling an odd sense of calm. The Big Guy was still there beneath that calm, Bruce could feel him, but this was as about docile as he had ever felt the Hulk be.
Bruce slowly began to pack away the mess. As he moved around the rest of the lab, he cleaned up some previously discarded burger wrappers and screwed up pieces of paper, amongst various other trinkets and objects Stark had deemed irrelevant. Once he finished getting the lab into some kind of order-the clocks reading 3am--he sat down next to Stark, who surprisingly didn’t wake as Banner’s weight caused the sofa to sink. Stark’s snores had increased and Bruce saw his limbs twitch and jerk as he dreamed.
While it was nice that Stark was sleeping at long last, the expressions on his face made it all too clear that it wasn’t a peaceful sleep. The Big Guy stirred a little knowing that. The Big Guy didn’t like it that Stark was being disturbed in his slumber.
“He still has nightmares.”
Bruce turned suddenly but he calmed when he saw Pepper walking cautiously into the room. She looked tired herself, but the warm smile on her face probably hid a lot of the fatigue she was actually feeling. She walked over to the sofa and draped a blanket over Tony, her fingers caressing his cheek and teasing the spikes of his hair after she did so.
“And you? How are you coping?” Bruce asked, shifting as Stark kicked out a little, his foot catching the back of Bruce’s leg.
Pepper shrugged her shoulders.
“I’m as good as someone can be who’s recovering from having a bioengineered weapon injected into her. Tony and I have been through a lot, obviously not like Thor and Captain Rogers, but we still have each other. We’re fortunate that we haven’t…that none of us…”
“Died.”
“Yes. I don’t know what either of us would do if we lost one another.”
“I can’t imagine what the other two are going through,” Bruce shook his head and scraped a hand through his short hair, “to lose a brother, a woman you love…or your best friend? It must be painful for them. ”
“They are coping as well as can be expected. Thor and Steven… they’re bonding more through their loss. Tony tries to help them too but you know he’s not really comfortable with sharing those kind of feelings, his own or others.”
“You have the patience of a saint, Miss Potts.” Bruce smiled. Pepper bowed her head in appreciation.
“You’re something else though, Doctor Banner.” Pepper sat down on the sofa’s arm, watching over Stark even though she was addressing Banner. “Tony doesn’t do well with others, we all know this, with certain exceptions. You’re of interest to him. He’s fascinated with you. When you were here after New York, Tony was different, more at ease. It was a very noticeable difference, even Happy commented on it. When we went back to Malibu, he mentioned you a lot. He immersed himself in his work and whenever I saw him, he remarked how he wished you were there. It was pretty much Bruce this….Big Guy that.”
“I’m flattered…I think.”
Pepper chuckled. “When Tony talks about anyone but himself, you should be. You and I have this effect on him…”
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ here.”
“But…he needs to talk to someone. You can see that he’s missing the reactor?” Pepper gestured to Stark’s chest. Bruce nodded. He had noticed the lack of the reactor’s glow through his Black Sabbath t-shirt. “If you could…? I don’t know, talk to him? Get him to open up?”
“Whoa! I’m not a shrink. I don’t have the temperament!”
Pepper stroked Stark’s hair one more time and rose from the sofa.
“I know, but don’t do it as any kind of doctor, do it as a friend. I’m certain he’ll open up for you.”
“And he won’t open up for the woman he loves?”
Pepper smirked. “He’s already done so for me, in his own way. I accept it, but that doesn’t mean I have to like the fact that he’s still bottling things up. I know he’ll talk to you. Sit with him, listen to him…”
Bruce cringed and chuckled. “Oh god, do I really have to?”
Pepper laughed, she had such a lovely laugh.
“I would be grateful, Doctor Banner.”
“Bruce. Sure. I’ll talk to him…or let him talk.”
The look of relief and happiness on her face was evident. This was so important to her.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Bruce was more than a little startled when Pepper Potts leaned down and kissed him on his forehead. He felt his cheeks flush and then to his further astonishment, he saw Pepper let out a huge yawn.
So. She hadn’t been resting either.
She bent over and kissed Stark in the same place and yawned once again before walking out of the room. At last she could rest as well.
When the door closed after her, it didn’t take long for Doctor Bruce Banner to fall into slumber himself.
--------------
The sight of the ships, the black upon black, was the end of everything, not just his own life.
He had brought the missile through to prevent it from going off and killing others. He was doing what Captain Rogers thought he would never do, making the sacrifice. He was willing to end his life so the people of New York would live…a little while longer.
The fear choked him when all power in his suit died. When the silence began to drown him and when the cold crept over his body, his eyes couldn’t look away from the alien ships ready to invade his homeworld.
Then there was a spark of hope, a pretty damned big and nuclear spark to be accurate. It nearly blinded him, but after the explosion, when he saw that nothing remained of the beings called the Chitauri, Tony Stark knew that he would fall into oblivion himself.
Pepper had missed his call. He couldn’t say goodbye.
JARVIS was cut off.
Stark closed his eyes and let himself fall.
This would be the end of him.
He never expected he would drop back through the portal just as it closed.
He never thought he would fall into strong arms, that he would be saved.
He was enveloped, sheltered. He was lain upon the ground and the mask was ripped from his face and the air rushed back into his lungs. Stark wanted to rest, to sleep, just for a little while but he wasn’t allowed.
The roar bolted him back into consciousness and Stark blinked several times to relieve the stinging pain in his eyes.
A wonderful but frightening sight greeted him.
“Hey…”
She was on fire, or appeared to be. Her skin was glowing a fiery red, just like her hair and she was kneeling down so close to him, her red eyes burning with worry and concern. She whispered his name again and again, but he wasn’t going to leave. He didn’t want to leave her alone.
“Hey.” Tony reached out his metal hand and cupped her face. “You’re okay. Thank god…you’re okay. I thought you died. I thought I’d lost you.”
He pulled her down to him and kissed her with everything he had, with everything he felt.
Something was wrong….
The red turned to green.
-------------------------
There was a growl. A murmuring growl against Tony’s mouth and instantly he jerked awake.
His eyes widened in surprise as he saw who it was he was kissing and who it was who was kissing him back.
Pinned beneath his friend, Tony couldn’t move. Bruce was now upon him, dragged down by Stark and their mouths were interlocked and moving together with a hard deep longing. Bruce Banner was not quite as awake as Tony was and so when Stark began to struggle, it only enticed the drowsy scientist on more. There was another growl and damn…the grip on Tony’s hips, the penetration of Bruce’s tongue and the raw scratches of his beard against Tony’s face…it made him slowly give in. He allowed the kiss to continue until Bruce finally snapped out of it.
"What the hell?"
Bruce leapt away from him and the two men then jumped up away from the sofa, staring at each other, gasping for breath.
“Okay, what just happened?” Tony stammered.
“That’s what I’d like to know.”
For the second time the two men jumped in shock and turned to the door, to see Pepper Potts leaning against the door frame, with a very bemused look upon her face.
Neither Tony nor Bruce could utter a word. Their faces flushed and they pointed at each other as if to accuse the other of instigating things. Pepper only smiled more showing that she really wasn’t surprised about what she was seeing.
“It’s not what it looks like,” said Bruce nervously.
“What he said.” Tony pointed to him and mumbled sheepishly, “A case of mistaken identity.”
Pepper bit her lip and held back a burst of laughter that was obviously wanting to be released.
“You mistook Doctor Banner for me?”
“No! Well, yes…but not really!”
“It was dark, we were tired. I didn’t know where I was.”
The two of them babbled on, excuses left right and centre came from their mouths.
“I was the kissee not the kisser. It was all his fault, I’m utterly blameless!”
“I think the Hulk might be gay.”
“Really?” Tony looked to Bruce with a genuine look of surprise. “That’s who you’re blaming here?”
“It’s worth a shot.” Bruce shrugged his shoulders and scratched the back of his head. Tony nodded in agreement, before they both realised they should still be apologising to Pepper and convincing her it was what it was…a mistake. Well, kind of.
Pepper didn’t want to hear any more. She was obviously going to crack up with laughter if they carried on like this. She held a hand up to silence them and was clearly grateful when they did.
“You really don’t have to try and convince me of anything, gentlemen,” she said, barely managing to keep a straight face, “you don’t need to say a word. I understand. However, there is someone else that might need an explanation.”
Pepper pointed behind them and it was at that moment that the two men heard the little whine.
Dum-E wasn’t in standby anymore.
“Oh no.” Stark pinched the bridge of his nose and took several deep breaths. “I don’t need this. Dum-E, this doesn’t concern you.”
The robot whined again, it sounded so sad.
“I’ll let you three be. You’ve got some issues to sort out.” Pepper left, laughing as she took her cell from her pocket. She dialled up a number and began to speak. “Happy…you’ll never guess what happened.”
Dum-E moaned again. The robot continued to do so, but the two men couldn’t move. Now there was no one else, it was just them here, they had to try and get over the very awkward tension between them. Dum-E’s distress at having witnessed their interaction was not helping matters.
Eventually they did the only thing they could do.
Make light of the situation.
“So what do you reckon on that kiss?” asked Stark, folding his arms across his chest and looking anywhere except at Banner. “On a scale of 1 to 10?”
“I’d say about a 6.” Bruce pretended to cough, picked up a tablet and activated the holoscreen.
“6? Really?” Tony’s face scrunched up with disbelief. “I should rate at least a 9.”
“Maybe a 7 then.”
“You were a 7.”
“You didn’t react like it was a 7.”
There was another long drag of silence, with the exception of Dum-E’s still whimpering sounds. Stark really wasn’t able to stand it.
He didn’t want to deal with any of this, not with Dum-E and certainly not with the curious and insane feelings he was experiencing now. Where he had felt more than comfortable and at ease with Banner, it wasn’t like that anymore. The kiss was stirring up sensations he had only before felt for Pepper and deep down it was greatly discomforting and exciting at the same time.
That kiss was no 7, more like 9 or 10 on Stark’s scale to be precise.
He was even more confused as Banner began to comfort Dum-E, soothing the robot with hushed and whispering tones and strokes of his hand. Why? Why was Bruce doing that, wasting his sentiments on a machine?
Did he really think that Dum-E had emotions and feelings like a human being? It was just a simple service droid, like all the others. It didn’t feel or have a soul, it was programmed with an intelligence yes, it was able to learn (supposedly!), but not to have sentiment. What Dum-E was expressing was nothing more than adaptive reasoning, a means to get attention.
“Someone is jealous.”
“It’s not jealous, it’s not capable of being jealous,” Tony snapped, a little harsher than he intended.
“I wasn’t talking about the robot.”
Tony Stark became speechless. The dark shadows against Bruce’s face, the green flash in his eyes and the deep growling chuckle that rumbled in his chest, completely threw Tony off balance. Not much fazed him, but with Bruce facing him, grinning, he certainly was.
They were close. They were almost touching again and Tony felt himself moving in, tilting his head, wetting his lips with a sweep of his tongue. Bruce did the same and just as their lips were about to meet-they both smirked -a sorrowful whine pulled them apart.
Stark grimaced and was going to berate the robot, but Bruce’s hand on his arm, gently squeezing him, prevented him from doing so.
“He saved your life…you saved his,” Bruce said, as he handed Tony the diagnostic computer tablet, “and if you don’t want to admit that he does actually have feelings, can you at least do something nice in a way of thank you for him?”
Tony glared at Bruce but then huffed heavily.
“An upgrade?”
“At the very least.”
Tony bit his lip and scratched at his goatee. “Fine. You going to help me?”
“Of course.”
“Good.”
“Then afterwards, you and me are going to have a talk.”
Tony blinked a couple of times and then scowled again.
“About….the ki--us?”
“Amongst other things.” Bruce slowly reached his hand out and touched at Stark’s chest, where the reactor had once been. “Amongst other things.”
Stark smiled and flipped open the tool box. He patted Bruce on the back, rubbing his shoulders before picking out a tool and approaching Dum-E.
The thing cooed affectionately and reluctantly Stark allowed the robot to rub against his arm. Dum-E had saved his life…that must mean something.
“Let’s get you upgraded then.”
Dum-E was more than pleased and so was Tony, when he and Bruce once again began to work together in a blissful and easy silence, the occasional suggestive smile exchanging between them.
A new start…well it was certainly going to be interesting.
-----------------
"You know, and thank you, by the way, for listening. There's just something about getting it off my chest and putting it out there in the atmosphere instead of holding this in. I mean, this is what gets people sick, you know? Wow, I had no idea you were such a good listener. To be able to share all of my intimate thoughts and my experiences with someone, it just cuts the weight of it in half, you know. It's like a snake swallowing its own tail. Everything comes full circle. And...and the fact that you've been able to help me process...”
Bruce woke suddenly, disorientated at first but when he saw Tony looking at him he felt a pang of guilt. Oh no, he had fallen asleep.
“So, uh...?”
“You with me?” asked Stark.
He wasn’t quite.
“I was, yeah. Mm-hmm. We were...uh, we were at, uh...”
“You actively napping?”
There was no point in lying.
“I...I was...I... I... I drifted.”
“Where did I lose you?”
“Elevator in Switzerland.”
“So you heard none of it?”
Oh god he was going to pay.
Bruce hoped that Tony was going to be at least a little bit forgiving, considering what they had been through, what they had shared yesterday.
There was no chance of that.
Tony smiled and he began to talk once more. “You know what? Now that I think about it, oh, God, my original wound. 1983, alright?”
“Yes.” Bruce groaned.
“I'm 14 years old, I still have a nanny? That was weird.”
His whole life story…Stark was going to tell his whole life story. As much as it interested Bruce, he didn’t think he could manage to listen to it all. Maybe if he kissed him again…he might reconsider?
“No chance, Banner!” Stark flashed him a big grin and winked. “Maybe later. Now…where was I?”