Chapter Six: Shouldn't Have Come

[destinyawakened]

Title: Calling a Truce: Shouldn't Have Come
Authors: Destinyawakened and MJLS
Rating: pg-13
words: 6800
Pairings/Characters: Tony Stark/Bruce Wayne, implied Joker/Bruce, Alfred, Dick Grayson
Summary: Bruce becomes unsure of his status with Tony;

Warnings: spoilers for Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Iron Man
Disclaimer: We don't own or claim to own the characters or settings, the books mentioned or make any money.
Song: Stay - Safetysuit
Parts: One | Two | Three | Four | Five
Bruce left Malibu a few days later when he received a call from Lucius Fox, reminding him that he had a board meeting to attend a few fund raisers to make appearances at on behalf of Wayne Enterprises. Tony had been sad to see him go, even though he he hid the real emotion behind a cheap stab at Bruce, as usual, and they parted without even knowing when they'd see each other again. Gotham and Malibu were on separate ends of the country, and both of them leading their own companies... it was going to be hard to find time. And as Bruce stepped off private jet in Gotham, he began to wonder if he had made any mistakes.

Tony Stark was a known, and quite proud, billionaire playboy. As was Bruce, but they both knew it was lie when Bruce was away from those who judged him. But this little fact about Tony made it hard for Bruce to keep his stomach from twisting into knots. As Bruce took the steps to the car waiting for him, he began to regret the whole trip. What had he been thinking? Tony Stark? The man was likely to forget about him in less than a day and would be seen with the next pretty model that crossed his path. Bruce was going to end up being the back up, the best friend who was always there when Stark needed a good fuck. That was the story of Bruce's life; grow attached and become distinctly detached the more used he became. Ra's did it to him when the man thought he could get Bruce to perform the way he wanted, to help take Gotham down. Rachel did it when she thought Bruce would change, and he didn't. The Joker... No he didn't even want to think about that. Tony seemed to want that fuck buddy...

It wasn't that Bruce didn't trust Tony, in fact Bruce trusted him more than he trusted a lot of people. Bruce could count the number of people he trusted on one hand, minus his thumb. that wasn't a lot, and a few were probably still up in the air. Bruce wasn't stupid either -- Tony wouldn't want something long term with someone as fucked up as Bruce was. He'd have to get go of his chances now, so that the blow wouldn't be so hard later. Bruce started the procedure to mentally brace himself for the worst. He was sure the news-feeds he had Alfred set up on the tapes in the bunker would already be recording something with Tony's name in it. Model, actress, scientist just as smart as Tony himself? Bruce was smart, intelligent beyond many, but he was no Tony Stark when it came to mechanics and science. Tony, even if he did decide Bruce might be worth sticking with for a bit, would soon find that he might want someone more stimulating for a long term relationship. Then again, when did Tony ever do long term?

"Master Wayne," Alfred said as Bruce approached the car, opening it for the younger man. Bruce slipped inside and Alfred took his place in the driver's seat. "I assume your vacation was beneficial, sir? You seem well rested and fed.
"
Bruce nodded slowly, leaning his elbow against the door frame and looking out the window. "Yes. Much needed."

"I'm glad, sir," Alfred answered, eyeing Bruce through the rear view mirror. "Master Richard will be glad to see you." They drove to the penthouse in silence and when Bruce arrived at the top with Alfred, he set his briefcase down on the coffee table in the living room. Richard, or more commonly to Bruce and his friends, Dick, was sitting on one of the couches reading a criminology book. He looked up at Bruce, a grin on his face.

"How was Malibu? Did you meet any celebrities?" Dick asked, setting his book down on the table after putting his bookmark in. Bruce sat down in the seat across from him, setting his ankle over his knee, hand resting on the arms of the chair.

"No, just Stark. There wasn't really a lot of time after being captured and injured until now, to think about going out," Bruce answered casually. Alfred had stopped behind Dick and looked at Bruce pointedly.

"Captured?"

"You didn't hear?" Bruce asked, looking up to the elder gentleman. Alfred and Dick shook their heads. Bruce shrugged, maybe it was just all over Malibu. "Tony and I were held hostage for ransom after being caught at the Bob Dylan concert." Bruce didn't feel he needed to explain further; he was standing there generally unscathed, so obviously everything ended up fine.

"So, you didn't get to see the concert?" Dick asked, and Alfred rolled his eyes at the young kid, wiping his hands on a towel. Bruce shook his head.

"Well, Master Wayne, I'm glad you escaped safely and that Mister Stark did as well," Alfred said, walking back towards the kitchen to finish dinner.

Bruce looked to Dick. "How has it been around here?"

"Quiet for the most part," Dick answered, folding his hands in front of him and looking down at the floor. "And the Joker escaped Arkham last night," he mumbled.

"What?" Bruce asked, sitting up straight from his seat. "Why was I not notified sooner?"

"Well Lucius calling you back for 'meetings' was supposed to clue that we needed you."

Bruce let out an aggravated growl. "Just perfect," he muttered. He walked towards the elevator.

"Where are you going?" Alfred asked as he heard the ding of the shaft approaching.

"I don't have time to sit around," Bruce said, walking into the elevator car.

-----

It was unusual, even for the Joker, to not be heard from for so many days. He escaped exactly three weeks prior and no one had heard a word from him. It was a little too much for Bruce to hope the maniac skipped town or even stopped his havoc all together. This had been the calm before an inevitable storm. And just when Bruce was bound to believe one or the other, a man was found murdered in the Narrows. According to police evidence that Bruce took from headquarters to make copies of, the man was found with a permanent grin on his face. It wasn't, from what the picture showed, a carved grin like the Joker usually did, but one that look as if the man had been forced to smile and his face frozen in that position. Autopsy showed that the man had trace amounts of drugs in his system but in the end he was killed by cardiac arrest.

Another murdered body showed up days later with the same results. This time Bruce took a sample of the blood the Lucius for processes at Wayne Biotech. Results were inconclusive.

Bruce sat back in his chair, down in the bunker below, looking at the bootjets and revamped tumbler that Tony had built him the last time he was here. He hadn't heard from the man in about a week, and the last time they talked Bruce almost brushed him off completely, especially after he did hear that Tony had been seen out on the town with three women at his side. Bruce couldn't afford to be jealous, not when he had his own reputation to up hold and would most likely have to go out soon with Selina just to verify it. But, didn't he know Tony well enough to know that the man wouldn't just let those women leave at the end of the evening? Maybe it wasn't fair to Tony, but it sure wasn't fair to Bruce to lay himself out like that for Tony Stark, to trust him and yet still feel so used. Bruce couldn't afford any emotional attachment anyway; it was better this way. He could be just like Stark and just....

Why was he even thinking about this? Bruce switched on the monitor. There was a video chat request waiting from Tony, and he half-heartily clicked the accept button. Tony was working on something to his left and when he saw that Bruce had accepted he immediately put whatever it was down.

"Somebody call the alarm bell! Bruce Wayne is home!" He exclaimed. "I've only been waiting around for an hour to see if you'd ever show up."

Bruce shrugged. "Been out patrolling," he replied.

"Patrolling is more important than little old me? I'm hurt," Tony pouted and faked a few sobs.

Bruce slumped in his chair, holding his head in one hand. "I didn't know you were waiting, Tony. A quick text or a phone call to let me know would have been fantastic."

"I didn't know you were going to be out patrolling, Bruciecakes," Tony grinned, "besides, I kept myself busy while waiting...my suit doesn't repair itself you know?"

"New suit?" Bruce asked, glancing over one of his other monitors with the new case file information on, what was assumed, Joker cases.

"Well, not exactly new but it got some new applications yes. It injects painkillers in my body now whenever it's needed!"

Bruce, who was not a fan of drugs in general, just nodded slightly. "That's... inventive."

"Maybe for you it isn't but if you get thrown against the wall in a suit of armor, you'd be grateful for that application, cupcake. Trust me."

Bruce blinked a few times at Tony, wonder if the man had ever seen Batman in a fight before; he'd had more than his fair share of being bashed into walls in his suit, without much more than the Kevlar protection. "I think I can imagine pretty well."

"Mm, yea, anyway, don't worry about those um...unfinished projects in your 'cave', I'll finish those when I come over next time, won't take long, only need a few minor adjustments and you're good to go. Now...how was patrolling? Any more lunatics gone loony?"

"Nothing unusual for Gotham," Bruce muttered, sliding off the gloves of the suit and then the gaunlets and set them down on the side of the table. "Joker escaped Arkham Asylum almost a month ago. I was almost starting to think he'd just skipped town for good. But, that was a little too good to be true."

"At least tell me you missed me while you were out..." Tony battered his eyelashes at the projected image of Bruce and hoped the man would answer positively.

Bruce rubbed his eyes with his palms; this wasn't what he wanted to talk about right now. "Loads and Loads," Bruce murmured.

Tony frowned, Bruce was not being his usual self, well, he heard Wayne was a down right brooding machine but this felt off. Leaning back in his own chair, Tony stared at the worn down and exhausted Bruce , wishing he could be there to massage the stress out of his shoulders. When Tony didn't answer, Bruce knew that he'd probably not given the answer the other man was expecting.

Sighing, Bruce rephrased his answer, if only to appease Tony. "Yes, Tony. I missed you," but found it hard to keep the annoyance and sarcasm from his tone, but he hoped the video connection was bad enough that Tony wouldn't really catch it. There was a flashing on the phone by the computer and Bruce reaches over to pick it up. It's Alfred. He holds up and finger to let Tony know he'll be a second. Bruce stands up from his chair and paces the room as he talks to Alfred, returning a minute later, not retaking his seat, but getting low enough so he can see Tony.

"I have to go, Gordon's calling."

"Since when does he have your phone number? Should I be jealous?" Tony had a slight teasing tone in his voice but Bruce never caught it.

"Alfred let me know the signal's been lit," Bruce explained as he started to fit the gaunlets and gloves back on over his fingers. "Since Gordon had it rebuilt, I've tried not to let him down in showing up. Trust, you know?" Bruce grabbed the cowl from the table behind him.

"I don't like it, you look exhausted already, you need your sleep too, Bruce," this was probably the most serious Bruce had ever heard Tony's voice be.

"I'll be fine, Tony," Bruce said as he slipped the cowl over his head and clasped the pieces in the back to the rest of the armor.
"At least try to reassure me here. Do you even have any back-up?"

Bruce glared at Tony through the cowl, why did he care anyway? "Dick has a big test in the morning, so no. It's just Gordon, nothing is going to happen." Bruce reached over to turn the video chat off. "Trust me," he said before clicking out of the video box of Tony's face. He walked to the corner and hopped onto the Batpod. Soon he was on his way to downtown Gotham, towards Major Crimes.

Tony Stark, however, all the way in Malibu, felt hopeless enough seeing Bruce once again drive his body to the edge of exhaustion and began typing commands in his computer. From what he had seen last time when he was in Gotham, Bruce had a small comm device in one of the ears of his cowl. If Tony could hack that, he could listen in to whatever was happening around Bruce. Not only would it make him feel more assured about Bruce's well being, it would also give the man some back-up, albeit unknown to him.

Bruce parked the Batpod in a dark alley, the alarm automatically setting as he jumped off the bike and started to climb the wall of the MCU building. As he reached the top, the first thing he noticed was that Jim Gordon was no where to be seen. Bruce hid well into the shadows for a moment longer, waiting to see if maybe the commissioner had gone back down for a second, but when he didn't return, Bruce carefully made his way over to the signal to turn it off, only to hear maniac sounding laughter from behind the light, and then a few footsteps behind him. How could he have been so stupid? He was usually a lot more careful than this, a lot more aware.

"Well, well, well... You really did show up," The Joker said as he stepped out from behind the light.

"Joker..." Bruce growled.

Tony found himself easily hacking into the comm system and turned away from his current work when he heard Bruce growl the name. His mind was debating whether he should suit up and go off to help Bruce or leave the man to deal with the Joker alone. Bruce could handle one maniac clown couldn't he? He did before...

Behind him Bruce heard the footsteps of at least five others, not unusual for the Joker to bring Henchmen, but Bruce began to second guess himself as his arms were suddenly grabbed and forced behind his back. He struggled to get the upper hand and maybe Tony had been right, maybe Bruce was beyond the point of exhuastion tonight. No time to think about that now, he thought as he flipped one of the men to the ground only to be struck in the back of the neck with a crowbar, the blunt of the force being absorbed by the armor.

"We'll need something stronger," Joker said and Bruce suddenly found himself sprayed in the face with a chemical, not having time to hold his breath.

"Fuck," Bruce managed to gasp, before blacking out completely.

This was enough for Tony, he dropped everything he was working on and suited up immediately, keeping the comm link on even in the helmet, Pepper wouldn't worry, she knew how impulsive he could be. Using the extra back-up power, Tony made sure the bootjets brought him to Gotham within the normal time limit (which was two hours; the extra back up power however brought it down to only an hour and a half). Biting his lip, Tony shouted out orders to JARVIS, ordering the AI to alert Alfred, and Dick, that Bruce was in trouble and he was currently on his way for back up. If they asked how Tony knew, JARVIS was just told to say 'intuition' until further notice.

Dick was sleeping in his room when he heard his cell phone's text message go off. He checked the time, it was four in the morning. He flipped the phone open and saw a message from someone named JARVIS, which was vaguely familiar to him, didn't Bruce say something about that being Tony's AI? The message read that Bruce was in trouble, but there was no information on where he might be. Dick rubbed his eyes and and jumped out of bed and hit the button on the wall for the make-shift bunker in the penthouse, and slipped inside to get into his blue and black armor. He'd just have to go patroling a bit, maybe see if he could find anything on the scanners... see if he could get a hold of Bruce.

--------

Bruce wasn't sure how long he'd been out, a few minutes? An hour? Longer? And wasn't it enough that he had been held hostage only a month ago? Was his luck this awful these days? He opened his eyes to a dark apartment, a window to his left showing that it was at least early morning, as the sun started to rise just over the tops of the buildings. At least not dark for long. He was still in his armor, minus gauntlets and utility belt.

"Ah, Batsy," Joker said as he stalked towards Bruce, a knife in his right hand. "I hear you have a new best friend."
Bruce eyed him, but didn't give the mad man the satisfaction of answering.

"Yes, I thought so," the Joker said, moving the knife so that it gleamed off the slight bit of light coming through the window. "See, I can't be having that. Iron Man is thorn in my side and him taking time away from us is not going to happen anymore." Joker got up into Bruce face, squatting down to be at his level, holding the knife to Bruce cheek, just below the cowl. "Bruce, you really hurt my feeling when you stopped coming by my cell. It's like you didn't care anymore."

"There is no 'us' anymore, Joker," Bruce spat at the man, only to have the knife pushed against the curve of his mouth.
"You're just saying that because Tony Stark has you wrapped around his golden little fingers. You'll change you're tune once he's taken care of," Joker replied, sliding the knife point into Bruce's mouth, tugging slightly. "I still think you'd look prettier if you smiled more."

Bruce moved his head, and the Joker slipped the knife away. He reached behind Bruce's neck and unclasped the cowl from the armor, and took it off of Bruce head. "Actually, you're much pretty just without the ears. Such a handsome face hidden beneath all that darkness." Joker took Bruce's chin in one hand and held the knife up to his lips again, turning Bruce's face back and forth, as if studying a piece of art. He started to hum and Bruce felt his gut wrench.

"Leave Tony out of this," Bruce growled. Whatever Joker had planned, Bruce didn't want Tony involved, didn't want to see something happen to him because Bruce was stupid enough to fall for a Joker trap. He'd just as soon die before he let that clown get his way.

"That wouldn't be much fun at all," Joker laughed. "I suspect he's already on his way here anyway. Heaven forbid you be in trouble and he stay out of it." Bruce stomach sank a little, and the realization that the Joker was probably right made him panic. He desperately hoped Tony hadn't found out. He told Tony to trust him and hoped to God that Tony had and just stayed out of this. Bruce had been in worse situations. Dealing with Joker was old news.

"Look, you have me here, there is no reason to bring Iron Man in on this. I'll... I'll do whatever you want..." Bruce said regretfully.

"Oh, I don't know... you aren't much on keeping promises," Joker pulled the knife back again, and leaning in towards Bruce's face. Bruce turned his head to the side, wiggling in his restraints. "See, you never do." Bruce allowed his face to be moved back towards the Joker's; this was not going to pleasant.

Outside the building Dick landed quietly just outisde the fire escape. He had tracked down a few of Joker's thugs that the clown had let go a few hours ago, beat some sense into them, and they told him the location that the Joker took Batman. A run down, disgusting apartment down in the Narrows. Dick started to peek into the window, careful not to be seen
.
"Anything?" Tony's voice was shielded by the armor's voice modifier, scaring Dick for a second since it was so unexpected but the boy quickly motioned Tony to be silent and pointed down to the Joker and Bruce in the middle of the apartment, "...always the middle of the room," Tony sighed and put on the cloaking device so he wouldn't get detected.

"It's a little to subtle for the Joker, though," Dick replied, cautioning Tony.

"Subtle? I don't see anything subtle about this whole situation," Tony muttered, lifting up his mask so he could whisper to Dick and be less loud.

"The apartment? Middle of the room? It was a little to easy to find him and a little too easy to get the information from his goons. He's expecting us to find him." Dick looked back down into the room, making a disgusted face, then looked back up at Tony floating just above him. "Just watch your back."

"Dully noted. Anyway, let's go say hello eh? Be nice to the people and stuff. Or did they forget to teach you some manners at that school of yours?"

"After you," Dick said with a fancy bow and gesturing his arms for Tony to go ahead first. "I'll cover you."

"Don't peek at my ass, I'm watching you," Tony smirked before he slowly opened the window and flew in, hovering just above the floor and glaring down at the Joker, ignoring Bruce.

"I'm assuming any minute now," The Joker said to Bruce, who was hanging his head slightly, not looking at the Joker anymore. He was too exhausted and too worn down to care. If the Joker was right everything that happened when Tony did get there would be all Bruce's fault. He shouldn't have answered the signal, he should have known it was too late in the evening for Gordon to have been calling him.

"Knock knock," Tony smirked, removing the perception filter from around him and using one of the weaker repulsor rays to blast the Joker away from Bruce.

The Joker was blasted a few feet away, not too scathed it seemed, and was actually laughing. Bruce winced at the sound, as the Joker pushed himself up on to his knees, pulling a small device from his pocket. "I was so hoping you'd join the party," Joker said, pushing the little button on the device, causing some sort of electric pulse, or Bruce assumed, but he knew it couldn't be good.

"Tony!" Bruce found himself yelling out, knowing that whatever this device did was geared towards Tony and the outcome wasn't looking good.

"Ah, ah..." The Joker said as he wagged a finger at Bruce, "enough out of you."

--system failure--

Tony cursed, feeling a small wave of the EMP coursing through his own body. It disabled any link from him to the armor and caused the armor to shut down on itself to prevent any more damage. Tony had to literally hack through his own system, reroute the primary power systems and reboot. It took a while but eventually, the armor started up again and rendered Tony fully operational again. Joker threw down the device, obviously not having taken into mind tha Tony would have back up for such an occasion.

"You ruin all my fun," The Joker exclaimed. Tony was still in his armor so at least he was shielded from weapon the Joker might have, but that did leave Bruce, maskless, in danger. "We're just going to have to play this another way..." The Joker pulled a revolver from his purple jacket and picked up a shackled and bound Bruce Wayne, making him stand, and pushed the barrel of the gun into his head. "Sorry, Brucie, business is buisness...Maybe if you're little friend decides to play by my rules I won't have to hurt you." He petted the side of Bruce's face with his long, gnarly fingernails.

"Let him go, Joker," Tony's metallic voice made a shiver go down Bruce's spine, it was actually the first time he heard Tony talk through the mask and he didn't like how cold it made him sound.

"How about a deal?" the Joker proposed. "I'll let Bruce go.. if you take his place. No armor."

Bruce shook his head at Tony. "Don't, it's a trap, Tony. He won't kill me, but he's not against killing you," Bruce said, barely getting the last bit out as the Joker's free hand wrapped tightly around his throat to quiet him.

"I thought I told you not to speak?" Joker sneered, and Bruce wished he had better control over his limbs, but whatever had been in that gas the Joker had given him had left him semi-paralyzed.

"Just let Bruce go," Tony winced, rather not giving up his suit of armor and life but this was Bruce's life on the line and by the looks of it, Bruce wasn't in a very good state. Poisoned, drugged, Tony couldn't immediately pinpoint the small symptoms he was seeing but he would do anything to get Bruce out of that mad man's hands.

Joker smiled, digging his free hand into his pocket as Tony started with taking off the helmet first. Joker pulled out his knife and pressed it between two of the plates of the armor in Bruce's side. "A little insurance, m'dear," he said, taking another stab just a little lower and then tossing Bruce to the ground, double over in pain. "I'm so glad you agreed to this, ah... Tony." The Joker cackled a bit.

Next off were the gloves, he shot a quick glance up to Dick still sitting at the window, looking slightly worried at a wincing Bruce on the floor and then nodded at Tony. Sighing, small pieces of the armor went off, saving time as much as he could. The slower he took, the more time he gave Dick to come up with a quick plan to get them out of there. Dick had one of the batarangs in hand, and threw it down, knocking the gun from Joker's hand, which caused the man to look up, very unpleased.

"I see we have another little guest," he growled, but didn't bother to go after his gun, since Tony was still mostly armored, and he was making sure he wouldn't back down of their little deal. But Dick, had other plans. He lept from the window looking down into the apartment, hoping that Tony was stable enough on the ground as he bounded off his back armor and tackled the Joker to the floor and started beat his face senseless, causing the Joker to drop the knife as well. When the man was throughly knocked out, Dick cuffed the freak and then went to check on Tony and Bruce. Tony however, had staggered back a few steps, an expression of pure shock and pain on his face as one of his hands was grasping onto the armor. A bit of blood seeped through his fingers, making Dick curse.

Dick pressed the emergency button on his utility belt to signal Alfred. He'd be there in a bit. "Tony?" Dick asked, moving to him to check the wound. "How bad? I'm so sorry! I had no idea..."

"Fine. Just..fine," Tony gasped and managed a brave smile, "wound is from a month back, armor still needs some adjusting, not exactly the most vast of materials I used this time, good to know."

"Sorry," Dick mumbled again, seeing as Tony wasn't exactly bleeding to death, he moved over to Bruce, who was still unable to move. "Bruce?"

"Ga-Gather my stuff," Bruce manged through a few gasped breaths. Dick grabbed Bruce's stuff from the table and brought it to him. Bruce couldn't get his hands around anything, unable to move his limbs. "Pull out the blood clotter and give it to Tony." Dick took out the pill, since they carried at least one on them at all times for cases like this.

"But Bruce..." Dick started to protest, seeing as Bruce was bleeding as well, but Bruce shook his head, telling him to keep it to himself. He didn't want to worry Tony. "Okay," he said and took it to Tony.

"Give it back to Bruce, I don't need pills. I'm fine, got it, kid?" Tony glared at Bruce for even thinking about giving him the pill, Dick just looked a bit lost between the two wounded men, "I can still fly, I won't bleed to death by flying a few miles up to the penthouse." Dick just put the pill back, seeing as both men were too stubborn to take help. Dick heard his comm beep on his own belt, telling him that Alfred was out front.

"Well then why don't you just fly your ass there then, Tony," Bruce growled, letting Dick help him put the cowl back on, still unable to move completely. He was feeling woosey from the gas Joker had given him. "Dick, take the pod and drop the Joker off at MCU." Dick nodded, throwing the clown over his shoulder.

"How are you getting out?" He asked from the window.

"I'll manage," Bruce replied, watching Dick bound out the window. He moved his head to Tony, glaring. "Are you still here?"

"Let me at least fly you home too, Bruce, please," Tony pleaded, looking with big eyes at the man who suddenly turned out to be so cold towards him.

Bruce shook his head, grasping hold of a near by table to help himself to his feet. Slowly he was starting to get his movement back, he was sure he could make it down to Alfred. "I'm fine, I don't need your help and you shouldn't have come." Looking down at his feet, Bruce saw the puddle of his own blood. Damn Joker, he thought. Just another battle scar.

Tony clenched his jaw, walked up closer to Bruce and pulled the man in a passionate kiss before planting a smaller, softer one on his lips afterwards, "I'll see you at the penthouse."

"Bunker," Bruce said, catching his breath and his balance again. Being kissed by Tony was the last thing he was expecting. "Suits don't go home. Alfred's house rule."

----------------

Alfred helped Bruce out of the car and down into the bunker. Dick was already down there talking to Tony. Alfred helped Bruce walk over to a chair, but he refused, leaning against the table instead to steady himself. He pulled the cowl, gloves, gauntlets off and tossed them on to the table. He was so tired and too exhausted to deal with any of this, but somethings couldn't be left for later. Tony was already out of his armor, and inspecting his own wound. and Alfred was flustering around Bruce like a mother hen, trying to get him to sit down and take the armor off.

"I'm fine, Alfred!" Bruce growled at the elder gentleman.

"Master Wayne, if I may..." Alfred started but Bruce glared at him.

"No. Why don't you go sew Tony up, I can take care of this," Bruce demanded. He slowly started to remove his armor, boots and shin pieces first.

Tony was on the other side of the bunker, slowly removing the pieces of armor around the wound and leaving the stuck piece for last, his legs were already freed from the containing armor and so were his arms, all that was left now was to make sure the chest piece came off with as little damage as possible.

"Well fuck, blood is hell to scrub out of this thing," Tony pouted and looked at the piece of titanium alloy in his hands, "at least it's not too damaged..."

Alfred approached Tony, peeking at the piece or armor. "If you'll allow me to assist, sir, I'm sure I can get that out," he offered, waiting to see if Tony was going to be just as stubborn as Bruce and not allow Alfred to help patch him up. Bruce rolled his eyes from across the room and continued to remove his armor until he was down to his mesh under-suit, careful to keep turned away from Alfred so the elder gentleman couldn't see just how nasty those stab wounds actually were.

"Oh..hi Alfie, didn't see you there. I got it under control..just...fuck that hurts," Tony winced and tried to wriggle out of the piece of alloy. Failing miserably. Alfred, who was just about done with both billionaire's acting like little brats, forced Tony to sit down on the table by placing both hands on his shoulders, and assisted him with removing the piece of armor in question. Meanwhile, Bruce called Dick over to help him tape down gauze over his own wounds.

"You're worse than Pepper, you know that Alf-man?" Tony raised an eyebrow at the older man as he finally managed to get the piece out of the wound without making Tony feel a thing.

Alfred offered him a slight smile. "Comes with the territory, Master Stark," Alfred said, and Bruce shot him a harsh glance from across the room at the formality 'master'. Bruce didn't like what Alfred was insinuating.

"Well, at least you're not flirting with me really subtle," Tony grinned and patted Alfred on the shoulder. The butler looked a little bit uncomfortable but then Tony continued, "besides, I'm taken already."

"I see," Alfred said, glancing over at Bruce for just a second before grabbing the bandages and starting to dress Tony's wound. Bruce, shook his head and walked over to the computers and sat down in the chair, closing out the Joker case file.

"You could say 'thank you Tony for saving my pretty ass', Bruciecakes," Tony noted innocently.

"I think the proper 'thank you' belongs to Dick for saving both our asses," Bruce replied, turning in the chair to face Tony. "If you hadn't have shown up he wouldn't have to save both of us. You walked right into the Joker's trap, Stark."

"Well I'm sorry if I wanted you to be safe. In case you forgot what happened last time we saw each other, I didn't."

"That was a bit different," Bruce said through gritted teeth, even though he knew for fact, it really wasn't. He didn't want Tony to have the satisfaction of knowing he was right.

"No, it wasn't," Tony thanked Alfred and walked closer to Bruce, placing both his hands on the man's shoulders, "I'm not going to leave you to the hands of homicidal clowns you got that? Who else would be my little brooding asshole if you were gone?"

"The situation was under control," Bruce said.

"Didn't look that way, unless you were planning to get it on with him. Which I hope isn't true..."

Bruce looked to Alfred and Dick standing on one side of the room, trying to look as though they were uncomfortable with the current conversation. Bruce nodded at them and Alfred motioned Dick to go with him, taking the lift to the surface. Bruce looked back up at Tony, still looming over him.

"That's disgusting. The situation was being handled. Had you not shown up, like he knew you would, sooner or later I'd have gotten out."

"Didn't look that way," Tony looked sad and stroke Bruce's cheek.

Bruce brushed Tony's hand away, turning his gaze away from him. "Don't, Tony."

Tony looked visibly hurt by the rejection and dropped his hand, "Alright then...I'll be um...outside taking some fresh air if you...need me..."

"I've done these types of relationships before," Bruce said as Tony started to walk towards the lift. "And I know how you are -- that you aren't the 'settling' down kind. I don't want to invest myself if it's not worth it."

"...You'll never know if you don't try, Bruce," Tony said sadly before he took the lift up and stepped in the cold early morning air, suddenly remembering he was only wearing a pair of loose sweatpants he had stolen from Bruce back down in the bunker. Bruce slid into sweats and grabbed an extra sweat shirt for Tony, taking the lift to the surface. He walked out of the door, seeing Tony just standing there staring at the docks. Bruce tapped him on the shoulder and offered him the sweatshirt. Bruce also knew there was something that needed to be said between them, but he couldn't really find his voice, or the words that would make it all better. That was probably because there was no just 'making it all better'. Tony smiled sweetly and took the sweatshirt from Bruce, for a moment, their fingers touched.

Tony moved one of his hands and caressed Bruce's cheek again, much like he had done earlier in the bunker but this time, without rejection. Staring in each other's eyes, Tony nodded and then gave Bruce a small kiss on the forehead, silently forgiving the man for his previous hurtful actions, words and behavior. Bruce returned the smile, as much as he muster, looking down at his feet rather shamefully. Tony was pretty forgiving and Bruce found it hard to do the same, let alone trust him completely. There was still the matter of Tony's womanizing, and Bruce wasn't going to be pushed aside by something like that if he gave 'them' a chance. Maybe he was just being needy, maybe he just needed to let be, be and have faith that it all meant nothing to Tony.

"Don't push me away again okay, Bruce? I value this...us...well you know what I mean, cupcake," Tony rolled his eyes, "Tony Stark doesn't do sentimental crap, but he does do this," with that, Tony planted a kiss on Bruce's lips and pulled the man closer, "and you know what? Don't be jealous of some chicks. I don't even kiss them, or will ever kiss them, the way I kiss you..."

Bruce fought back cringing from the pain in his side as Tony pulled him closer, planting his forehead against the other man's. This, he knew, was the softest and quite possibly the most sentimental Tony Stark was ever going to get (give or take a few other times that Bruce was not going to count on). He thought about answering Tony, but the only good, reliable response was to kiss Tony again. He placed a hand on the back of Tony's head, digging his fingers deep into his black hair, and kissed him hard.

"Eeew," Dick mocked. He was standing by the car while Alfred was taking a call on the car phone. Bruce pulled away from Tony and glared at Dick; how old was this kid again? Because eighteen wasn't sounding right.

"Get in the car, Dick," Bruce said. The young man just snickered at Bruce and slid into the front passenger seat.