Torrid Tuesday #6: I Guess We'll Have To Share (Avengers!)
My FIRST Avengers fic!!! I'm not posting it to AO3 because that fandom is HUGE and I'm too scared of it to post this story there. Why do I even care? Honestly, I have no idea but just call me chicken. I'm okay with it. I decided to post it to AO3 after all. I guess we'll see how that works out! (It's here if you want to read it on AO3.)
Please tell me (very gently) what you think of my foray into Avengers.
As with so many things recently, I blame my evil queen kaige68. I am but her humble writing servant (one of many!)
Title: Torrid Tuesday #6: It looks like we’re going to have to share
written for 1_million_words
Fandom: Avengers (I know. Right???)
Rating: PG
Characters: Tony and Bruce
Words: ~1800
“Tony, I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Bruce said, blowing again on his cupped hands. He knew this wasn’t Tony’s fault. Even Lamborghinis broke down. Not that he’d expected Tony to have a sleeping bag in the miniscule space he called the car’s trunk. But Bruce thought it was probably left over from being stranded in Afghanistan. Always be prepared.
“I know it’s far from ideal, Bruce,” Tony said for the second time. Or was it the third? Hardly mattered as he worked to start a fire in the abandoned cabin they’d found. There had been no snow in the forecast. If there had been, he would have never suggested the trip up to the mountains. ‘Just for the day, Bruce. We’ll unwind and then be back for dinner.’ That worked out well.
“When will Pepper start to miss you?” Bruce asked, squatting next to Tony who was frowning at the kindling he’d carefully constructed into a perfect tiny teepee.
“Not until tomorrow. She’s in…uhm…Paris,” Tony said as he studied his handiwork. He’d built the first Iron Man from scraps in a cave. Making a fire in a cabin in the Adirondacks was not going to defeat him.
“Are you two still fighting?” Bruce asked quietly. He saw the look Tony shot him and shrugged. “Not like any of us could help overhearing. Thor goes to the roof when it gets really bad.”
“That’s why I keep finding him out there?” Tony asked, incidentally bumping against Bruce’s leg as he reached for the flint stone he’d found in what must have been the kitchen at some point.
“Yeah. What’s going on?” Bruce asked even though he tried to keep those particular lines of communication closed. He didn’t blame Tony for wanting, needing someone to confide in. Bruce just wished he’d tell Steve or Thor or Clint or even Natasha these things. Well, maybe not so much Natasha. She’d blame Tony then rip his manly bits off with her bare hands. Definitely not Tasha.
“I know you’re being polite, Banner,” Tony said, grinning when the spark finally ignited the kindling. “There we go.”
“You’ve invented fire,” Bruce acknowledged. “You are a true genius.”
“Sarcasm does not become you, my friend,” Tony informed him as he slowly fed the growing fire.
“You have enough for us both, it’s true,” Bruce agreed.
“Once this is really going, we’re going to get some sleep. In the same sleeping bag,” Tony told him. He held up a hand to forestall Bruce’s coming arguments. “I know, I know you don’t think it’s a good idea. I heard you all four times. But it’s freezing even with the fire. We only have one. You are not going to Hulk out on me. And you aren’t sleeping on the floor.”
Bruce sighed but had to nod. “Conserving body heat does have its advantages.”
“It does,” Tony agreed, spreading the sleeping bag out on the wooden floor they had managed to sweep with some tree branches. “Take off your coat and we’ll put them over us.”
“One should go underneath to insulate us,” Bruce suggested, spreading his out. Tony silently agreed, picking up the sleeping bag so Bruce could place his coat on the floor. Tony put the sleeping bag on top of it before putting his coat on top. “What are we going to do tomorrow? With no cell reception?” Bruce asked as they removed their shoes.
“I’m going to fix the car,” Tony assured him.
“Just like that. You’re going to fix the car,” Bruce said, trying to keep the doubt out of his voice.
“Unless you plan to,” Tony said.
“Not me. I’m good at plenty of things but car repair isn’t one of them,” Bruce reminded him.
“From the sounds it was making, I think that…” Tony explained what he thought was wrong but to Bruce it sounded like he’d become one of the adults in the Charlie Brown cartoons that so amused Thor and Steve. The ones Natasha and Clint pretended to hate, but Bruce knew they loved them too. They even made Agent Coulson laugh from time to time which was unprecedented in all their memories.
“Okay,” Bruce said with a nod. “After you.”
Tony shimmed into the sleeping bag, holding it open so Bruce could enter with him.
“It’s bigger than I expected,” Bruce said, laying his head on his arm.
“I’ve shared it with… well. I don’t think I’ve ever slept in it by myself,” Tony said.
“What has happened between you and Pepper?” Bruce asked, studying his friend and seeing the pain in his eyes, pain he covered with continual quips and witty remarks.
Tony shrugged one shoulder, closing his eyes so he didn’t have to see the sympathy in Bruce’s. “It wasn’t one thing, really. It was the worm hole and Extremis and those purple alien worm things last month and… I think she gets tired of being…left behind.”
“Left behind,” Bruce repeated carefully.
“All the times the Avengers have gone off to save the world. She doesn’t know if we’ll come back alive. Or if we’ll come back in pieces that she’ll have to gather to have something to bury. It’s not solely about me,” Tony said, looking at Bruce and his steadfast gaze. “She worries about you and Steve and…. everyone really.”
“Like a war bride,” Bruce said.
“Yeah,” Tony agreed. “Steve said it was sometimes harder for those left at home than the ones who went to fight. The soldiers were too busy to worry for the most part. The war brides had too much time to do little else.”
“Even running Stark Industries?” Bruce asked.
“She’s very good at her job,” Tony said. “I guess that gives her enough time to worry.”
“She loves you, you know,” Bruce reminded him.
“I love her. But maybe it isn’t enough.”
“I’m sorry,” Bruce said, true sorrow in his voice.
“We’ve all lost people we love. I’m not alone in that. Jane won’t always see Thor when he’s on Earth. She said it’s too painful when he leaves again.”
“War brides,” Bruce confirmed.
“Yeah,” Tony said, looking at the fire that was still blazing away. “You going to get up and feed the fire?”
“Sure,” Bruce said. “I was a Boy Scout once upon a time. I can’t fix Lamborghinis but I can keep a fire going.”
“I wanted to be a Boy Scout. Howard said it wasn’t a Stark kind of thing to do,” Tony said with a surprising lack of bitterness in his voice.
“Nobody’s more of a Boy Scout than Steve. And I say that will all due respect,” Bruce said with a smile.
“He’s gotten less Captain America-ish as time goes by,” Tony said with a chuckle.
“You’re only saying that because you finally stopped hating him,” Bruce said, his eyes closing on their own.
“I never hated him,” Tony said thoughtfully. “But he was a real Boy Scout, wasn’t he?”
“Totally,” Bruce mumbled, falling asleep before finishing the word.
Tony smiled at the relaxed look on Bruce’s face, one they too rarely witnessed. He usually did have a hint of anger about him, one they recognized now that they knew him as well as they did.
Tony allowed himself to relax as well, not sure sleep would come.
~0~
The sun was just trying to make its way over the horizon when Tony woke. The fire was almost out and Bruce was sound asleep next to him, their bodies spooning in the confines of the sleeping bag. It was cozy and comfortable but Tony did not want to have to start a new fire from the ashes of the first one.
He reluctantly started to crawl over Bruce who turned onto his back at Tony’s movements. Tony almost had the sleeping bag unzipped when the door to the cabin crashed open.
“Man of Iron. Angry Green One. Are you here?” Thor asked from where he filled up the entire doorway.
“Yeah,” Tony said, looking over at Thor just as Steve ducked under his arm to stand inside the cabin.
“Oh. We’re interrupting, aren’t we?” Steve asked, the color rising on his cheeks and his smile undeniable.
“What?” Bruce said, looking over at the two new arrivals before looking up at Tony who was laying on top of him. “This doesn’t look like what it is.”
“What?” Tony said, raising up enough to see Bruce. “What does it look like?”
“It appears to us that perhaps you have acknowledged that which is in your hearts,” Thor proclaimed. “And in your eyes whenever you gaze at one another.”
“What?” Bruce said in confusion. Tony scrambled out of the sleeping bag to stand beside it. “What is he talking about?”
“I have no idea,” Tony lied, looking over at Steve and Thor. “How did you find us?”
“Tracker,” Steve said, holding it out for Tony to see.
“And we had expected your arrival at the Tower of Stark in time to share evening repast. We became concerned when you failed to communicate your whereabouts to us,” Thor added.
“Thank you,” Bruce said once he was standing up beside Tony.
“How’d you get here? And can we get home the same way?” Tony asked, pulling on his coat then his shoes.
“We brought a Jeep,” Steve assured him. “With the snow, we figured it was the safest way to travel. A practical winter vehicle.”
“It wasn’t supposed to snow,” Tony protested as he gathered the sleeping bag. Bruce extinguished the fire before following them out.
“That is understood,” Thor told him. “However, the tiny car of racing heritage is not practical for traveling at the current season of the year.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Tony said, entering the backseat of the jeep with Bruce. Steve got behind the wheel, none of them quite ready to trust Thor to drive. It had turned out he was much better at controlling horses than he was horsepower.
Steve smiled as he handed back a thermos of coffee, Bruce and Tony gratefully drinking from it.
“Thanks,” Bruce said when he was sure he could talk without his teeth chattering.
“No charge,” Steve assured him before engaging in a casual, comfortable conversation with Thor who mostly managed to use his inside voice.
“What did Thor mean?” Bruce whispered to Tony who looked out his window rather than respond. “Tony?”
“Uhm,” Tony said, clearing his throat. “I don’t know.”
“Please don’t lie to me,” Bruce requested. “Is what you feel for me more than friendship?” Bruce asked, a warm hand on Tony’s knee.
“Yes?” Tony said, looking at Bruce’s hand. “Is this going to get weird for you?”
“No, Tony. You aren’t the only one who has that expression on his face,” Bruce told him.
“Oh. Oh,” Tony said, looking at Bruce and the open affection reflected there. “Oh.”
“Yeah. But if you and Pepper aren’t done, then this conversation never happened,” Bruce said firmly.
“I know,” Tony agreed. “It’s comforting to know it’s not just me, even if we never do share my sleeping bag again.”
“It’s not just you,” Bruce said, scooting just a little closer to Tony and sharing his warmth, all the way to his heart.
Please tell me (very gently) what you think of my foray into Avengers.
As with so many things recently, I blame my evil queen kaige68. I am but her humble writing servant (one of many!)
Title: Torrid Tuesday #6: It looks like we’re going to have to share
written for 1_million_words
Fandom: Avengers (I know. Right???)
Rating: PG
Characters: Tony and Bruce
Words: ~1800
“Tony, I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Bruce said, blowing again on his cupped hands. He knew this wasn’t Tony’s fault. Even Lamborghinis broke down. Not that he’d expected Tony to have a sleeping bag in the miniscule space he called the car’s trunk. But Bruce thought it was probably left over from being stranded in Afghanistan. Always be prepared.
“I know it’s far from ideal, Bruce,” Tony said for the second time. Or was it the third? Hardly mattered as he worked to start a fire in the abandoned cabin they’d found. There had been no snow in the forecast. If there had been, he would have never suggested the trip up to the mountains. ‘Just for the day, Bruce. We’ll unwind and then be back for dinner.’ That worked out well.
“When will Pepper start to miss you?” Bruce asked, squatting next to Tony who was frowning at the kindling he’d carefully constructed into a perfect tiny teepee.
“Not until tomorrow. She’s in…uhm…Paris,” Tony said as he studied his handiwork. He’d built the first Iron Man from scraps in a cave. Making a fire in a cabin in the Adirondacks was not going to defeat him.
“Are you two still fighting?” Bruce asked quietly. He saw the look Tony shot him and shrugged. “Not like any of us could help overhearing. Thor goes to the roof when it gets really bad.”
“That’s why I keep finding him out there?” Tony asked, incidentally bumping against Bruce’s leg as he reached for the flint stone he’d found in what must have been the kitchen at some point.
“Yeah. What’s going on?” Bruce asked even though he tried to keep those particular lines of communication closed. He didn’t blame Tony for wanting, needing someone to confide in. Bruce just wished he’d tell Steve or Thor or Clint or even Natasha these things. Well, maybe not so much Natasha. She’d blame Tony then rip his manly bits off with her bare hands. Definitely not Tasha.
“I know you’re being polite, Banner,” Tony said, grinning when the spark finally ignited the kindling. “There we go.”
“You’ve invented fire,” Bruce acknowledged. “You are a true genius.”
“Sarcasm does not become you, my friend,” Tony informed him as he slowly fed the growing fire.
“You have enough for us both, it’s true,” Bruce agreed.
“Once this is really going, we’re going to get some sleep. In the same sleeping bag,” Tony told him. He held up a hand to forestall Bruce’s coming arguments. “I know, I know you don’t think it’s a good idea. I heard you all four times. But it’s freezing even with the fire. We only have one. You are not going to Hulk out on me. And you aren’t sleeping on the floor.”
Bruce sighed but had to nod. “Conserving body heat does have its advantages.”
“It does,” Tony agreed, spreading the sleeping bag out on the wooden floor they had managed to sweep with some tree branches. “Take off your coat and we’ll put them over us.”
“One should go underneath to insulate us,” Bruce suggested, spreading his out. Tony silently agreed, picking up the sleeping bag so Bruce could place his coat on the floor. Tony put the sleeping bag on top of it before putting his coat on top. “What are we going to do tomorrow? With no cell reception?” Bruce asked as they removed their shoes.
“I’m going to fix the car,” Tony assured him.
“Just like that. You’re going to fix the car,” Bruce said, trying to keep the doubt out of his voice.
“Unless you plan to,” Tony said.
“Not me. I’m good at plenty of things but car repair isn’t one of them,” Bruce reminded him.
“From the sounds it was making, I think that…” Tony explained what he thought was wrong but to Bruce it sounded like he’d become one of the adults in the Charlie Brown cartoons that so amused Thor and Steve. The ones Natasha and Clint pretended to hate, but Bruce knew they loved them too. They even made Agent Coulson laugh from time to time which was unprecedented in all their memories.
“Okay,” Bruce said with a nod. “After you.”
Tony shimmed into the sleeping bag, holding it open so Bruce could enter with him.
“It’s bigger than I expected,” Bruce said, laying his head on his arm.
“I’ve shared it with… well. I don’t think I’ve ever slept in it by myself,” Tony said.
“What has happened between you and Pepper?” Bruce asked, studying his friend and seeing the pain in his eyes, pain he covered with continual quips and witty remarks.
Tony shrugged one shoulder, closing his eyes so he didn’t have to see the sympathy in Bruce’s. “It wasn’t one thing, really. It was the worm hole and Extremis and those purple alien worm things last month and… I think she gets tired of being…left behind.”
“Left behind,” Bruce repeated carefully.
“All the times the Avengers have gone off to save the world. She doesn’t know if we’ll come back alive. Or if we’ll come back in pieces that she’ll have to gather to have something to bury. It’s not solely about me,” Tony said, looking at Bruce and his steadfast gaze. “She worries about you and Steve and…. everyone really.”
“Like a war bride,” Bruce said.
“Yeah,” Tony agreed. “Steve said it was sometimes harder for those left at home than the ones who went to fight. The soldiers were too busy to worry for the most part. The war brides had too much time to do little else.”
“Even running Stark Industries?” Bruce asked.
“She’s very good at her job,” Tony said. “I guess that gives her enough time to worry.”
“She loves you, you know,” Bruce reminded him.
“I love her. But maybe it isn’t enough.”
“I’m sorry,” Bruce said, true sorrow in his voice.
“We’ve all lost people we love. I’m not alone in that. Jane won’t always see Thor when he’s on Earth. She said it’s too painful when he leaves again.”
“War brides,” Bruce confirmed.
“Yeah,” Tony said, looking at the fire that was still blazing away. “You going to get up and feed the fire?”
“Sure,” Bruce said. “I was a Boy Scout once upon a time. I can’t fix Lamborghinis but I can keep a fire going.”
“I wanted to be a Boy Scout. Howard said it wasn’t a Stark kind of thing to do,” Tony said with a surprising lack of bitterness in his voice.
“Nobody’s more of a Boy Scout than Steve. And I say that will all due respect,” Bruce said with a smile.
“He’s gotten less Captain America-ish as time goes by,” Tony said with a chuckle.
“You’re only saying that because you finally stopped hating him,” Bruce said, his eyes closing on their own.
“I never hated him,” Tony said thoughtfully. “But he was a real Boy Scout, wasn’t he?”
“Totally,” Bruce mumbled, falling asleep before finishing the word.
Tony smiled at the relaxed look on Bruce’s face, one they too rarely witnessed. He usually did have a hint of anger about him, one they recognized now that they knew him as well as they did.
Tony allowed himself to relax as well, not sure sleep would come.
~0~
The sun was just trying to make its way over the horizon when Tony woke. The fire was almost out and Bruce was sound asleep next to him, their bodies spooning in the confines of the sleeping bag. It was cozy and comfortable but Tony did not want to have to start a new fire from the ashes of the first one.
He reluctantly started to crawl over Bruce who turned onto his back at Tony’s movements. Tony almost had the sleeping bag unzipped when the door to the cabin crashed open.
“Man of Iron. Angry Green One. Are you here?” Thor asked from where he filled up the entire doorway.
“Yeah,” Tony said, looking over at Thor just as Steve ducked under his arm to stand inside the cabin.
“Oh. We’re interrupting, aren’t we?” Steve asked, the color rising on his cheeks and his smile undeniable.
“What?” Bruce said, looking over at the two new arrivals before looking up at Tony who was laying on top of him. “This doesn’t look like what it is.”
“What?” Tony said, raising up enough to see Bruce. “What does it look like?”
“It appears to us that perhaps you have acknowledged that which is in your hearts,” Thor proclaimed. “And in your eyes whenever you gaze at one another.”
“What?” Bruce said in confusion. Tony scrambled out of the sleeping bag to stand beside it. “What is he talking about?”
“I have no idea,” Tony lied, looking over at Steve and Thor. “How did you find us?”
“Tracker,” Steve said, holding it out for Tony to see.
“And we had expected your arrival at the Tower of Stark in time to share evening repast. We became concerned when you failed to communicate your whereabouts to us,” Thor added.
“Thank you,” Bruce said once he was standing up beside Tony.
“How’d you get here? And can we get home the same way?” Tony asked, pulling on his coat then his shoes.
“We brought a Jeep,” Steve assured him. “With the snow, we figured it was the safest way to travel. A practical winter vehicle.”
“It wasn’t supposed to snow,” Tony protested as he gathered the sleeping bag. Bruce extinguished the fire before following them out.
“That is understood,” Thor told him. “However, the tiny car of racing heritage is not practical for traveling at the current season of the year.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Tony said, entering the backseat of the jeep with Bruce. Steve got behind the wheel, none of them quite ready to trust Thor to drive. It had turned out he was much better at controlling horses than he was horsepower.
Steve smiled as he handed back a thermos of coffee, Bruce and Tony gratefully drinking from it.
“Thanks,” Bruce said when he was sure he could talk without his teeth chattering.
“No charge,” Steve assured him before engaging in a casual, comfortable conversation with Thor who mostly managed to use his inside voice.
“What did Thor mean?” Bruce whispered to Tony who looked out his window rather than respond. “Tony?”
“Uhm,” Tony said, clearing his throat. “I don’t know.”
“Please don’t lie to me,” Bruce requested. “Is what you feel for me more than friendship?” Bruce asked, a warm hand on Tony’s knee.
“Yes?” Tony said, looking at Bruce’s hand. “Is this going to get weird for you?”
“No, Tony. You aren’t the only one who has that expression on his face,” Bruce told him.
“Oh. Oh,” Tony said, looking at Bruce and the open affection reflected there. “Oh.”
“Yeah. But if you and Pepper aren’t done, then this conversation never happened,” Bruce said firmly.
“I know,” Tony agreed. “It’s comforting to know it’s not just me, even if we never do share my sleeping bag again.”
“It’s not just you,” Bruce said, scooting just a little closer to Tony and sharing his warmth, all the way to his heart.