Chapter Nine: The Race

[destinyawakened]

Title: Calling a Truce: Race
Authors: Destinyawakened and MJLS
Rating: pg-13
words: 5200
Pairings/Characters: Tony Stark/Bruce Wayne
Summary: Bruce tries to take Tony's mind off "dress up" by challenging him to race...
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: Crash and Burn - Simple Plan
Parts: One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight

Bruce called his lawyer the next morning, vaguely described the situation with Timothy Drake, and had the paper work to adopt the boy faxed to him. He and Tony spent a week with the kid, trying to get to know him before Bruce called Alfred and asked him to fly out and see the boy back to Gotham until everything was settled. Bruce himself had business with Tony to deal with in Malibu, but that he'd be home as soon as possible. After seeing Tim off at the airport, Bruce started to feel a bit better about everything. Tim had confirmed that he didn't blame either Bruce or Tony, which was a relief for Bruce and Tony didn't seem to care one way or another. In fact, Tony seemed rather put out as it was by Bruce even sending in adoption paper for a kid he barely knew.

"I knew it. You adopt kids like stray bats. Seriously Bruce, people might start to think you're a eunuch or something, can't even knock a woman up to get your own kids that you adopt them? Christ."

Bruce glared over at Tony as they walked back to his car. "That's not even funny," Bruce said. "And who else is going to take Tim in? No one that's really going to understand what he's going through. Plus, Dick will be a good influence on him."

"...With a name like Dick, I'm not really sure..." Tony raised an eyebrow, "and that one was every pun intended."
"Tony..." Bruce warned sliding into the passenger seat. "Dick, will be a fine influence." He shook his head at Tony, always making a remark about something.
"Mm, but seriously? I feel bad for the Alf-man, you're saddling him up with another kid to deal with. As if dealing with you isn't a full-time job already."

Bruce waited until Tony got into the driver's seat to respond, then looked at him seriously. "Oh, I'm sorry Tony, would you like me to call my trip here short and fly back to Gotham now to take care of Tim? Because I can do that." Alfred was more than happy to do it, and he also knew that Bruce needed these few days off to refocus before he could even being to deal with a teenager. For Alfred, it wasn't anything new.

"I didn't say that," Tony said quickly, "I mean...you can but...you'd have to miss...me and my...dick...and god knows you can't handle that for too long. You're a needy bastard Bruce Wayne."

Bruce smirked. "Yeah I didn't think you wanted me to leave just yet," Bruce said smugly. "It's you who would be missing me, by the way."

"Of course, I need a firm 'hand' to keep me in my place every now and then," Tony smirked, winking at Bruce when he said 'hand'.

"If by that you mean 'smacked' around, then I highly agree," Bruce replied as he sized Tony up, making it apparent he was doing so. "Someone has to do it and I just don't trust Pepper enough to do it right. Or anyone for that matter."
"Pepper loves me too much but she keeps me grounded, she makes a wonderful nurse though. Won't wear the outfit though for some reason, wonder why," Tony frowned, actually pondering on this even if the answer was so obvious. Bruce sighed and sat back against his seat and let Tony drive. Sometimes he wondered why he even tried to flirt with Tony; sometimes the other man got it sometimes he was off on some other brainwave.
"I think Pepper has better things to do than play dress up with you," Bruce grumbled.

"What about you? Do you have better things to do than play dress up with me? Because I got a few outfits in the back of my closet I'd love to see you in," Tony grinned seductively and looked at Bruce, not even caring about the road in front of him.

"I told you before -- I'm not your bitch. I won't wear women's lingerie for you and I won't let you take pictures."

"You always think the wrong things Bruce. Do you honestly thing I have women's lingerie in the back of my closet?" Tony asked, looking back to the road.

"Hard to say, with your reputations and all..." Bruce paused, slightly worried. "Why... do you keep male costumes in your closet?" And should I be worried? Bruce shook his head, it didn't matter. "No, no... I'm not wearing any of little 'outfits'."

"N'aaw, don't spoil my fun Bruce," Tony whined, not pleased with the answer, "I mean, sure it would be sort of weird, but man would you look great in the outfit in my mind..."

"No," Bruce answered, huffing a bit that. He couldn't believing Tony was pushing this.

"Well fine be that way then," Tony pouted and parked the car, getting out and for once not waiting for Bruce as he walked over to his latest project and started working on it again. Tony was upset, so much was clear. After all, Tony Stark was used to getting his way. Bruce stared at his lover (still sounded weird in his head) and wondered how he could make the man smile again without giving in.
Bruce walked over to the workbench, trying to keep all sarcastic comments he was thinking from pouring out of his mouth. "How about a race?"
"Why? I'll win, you'll brood, end of story," Tony kept his eyes on his work, clearly more convincing was going to be necessary here but the idea was a good one in Bruce's mind so he was going to keep pushing it.

"Oh, I don't know. I chase down criminals in a tank most nights, I'm pretty sure I could at least give you a run for your money," Bruce commented, sitting down on the edge of the bench. He was looking at Tony but Tony was making a point of not looking at him.

"Tank or not, you can't beat a Stark modified car, Wayne. No matter how much Lucius Fox talks out of his neck," Tony raised an eyebrow at Bruce, as if daring him to keep pushing him.

"It's a good thing then that I'll be racing one of your cars then," Bruce said looking around and motioning. "Because last time I looked, none of mine are here."

"...You actually believe I'll let you drive one of my babies?" Tony kept his gaze on Bruce who looked as serious as he could.

"Didn't I prove to you just last week that I was more than capable of taking care of one of your cars?" Bruce asked, "Besides, how else am I going to race you? It wouldn't exactly be fair to race a Stark modified car against a regular street car."

Tony stared long at Bruce before sighing and giving in, but noting that Bruce couldn't drive over a certain limit because of slipping danger, promising he wouldn't either. Tony was very protective over his cars and even though he trusted Bruce enough, his cars were special to him and he didn't want a scratch on them. Unless he put the scratch there himself. Bruce merely played up his playboy smile at Tony and brushed off any fears that the other man had as he walked to the cars.

"So which one do I get to drive?"

"Preferably, the real Stark, but that's a bit out of the question right now," Tony smirked, moving up behind Bruce, "but considering you're bad with Lamborghini's, those are excluded, not the older cars either, because, I'm nostalgic about them, so we'll go with one of the Audi's for you. Good cars really. Wonderful to modify, if you like that."
Bruce held out his hand, palm up, waiting for the keys from Tony. "Well, then let's go. The sooner I beat you the better."
"Oi, not so fast, you need special gear. Can't let you race in that suit of yours. Christ Wayne, are you really dumb or just eager to get your ass kicked?"

"Oh, are we going to track to do this?" Bruce asked, playing the dumb up again and smirking at Tony. "I thought we'd just race down the hill from your house. But maybe a track would be better..." Bruce knew Tony hated when he played stupid, more reason to do it.

"Bruce Wayne, dumbest billionaire ever, that should be your official title. Of course we're going to the track for this," Tony rolled his eyes, "or did you forget I got a track just behind my tennis courts?"

"Considering when you gave me the tour it started and ended at your bedroom..." Bruce answered, giving Tony a wink. "Alright. Gear, where is it?"

Tony sighed before he walked over to Bruce and already starting taking off his clothes, nipping at his neck, "well, I got gear in the back of my closet," he smirked, clearly enjoying this all of the sudden, "but I guess we'll have to be professional and just take the ones from the closet right behind you."

For a split second Bruce thought about skipping the race all together and just taking Tony over the workbench right then and there, but he calmed the heat in his loins and kissed Tony quickly on the lips. "Great," he said roughly, trying to hide his need. He turned from Tony, finished undressing and put on one of the racing suits, a bit of tight fit since it was made to fit Tony's build, but he figured it would do for a bit. He grabbed a helmet and waited for Tony to dress.

Tony smirked and stared at Bruce in his black suit. It was one of Tony's favorites and it didn't surprise the man at all that Bruce had picked it out. Luckily, Tony had quite a few favorite outfits and slowly, the man walked over to the closet to grab his own. Briefly, his hand touched Bruce's crotch as he passed but not long enough for Bruce to act on it. It was like Tony was taunting Bruce, knowing about his need and doing everything in his power to make it even worse. Grabbing the blue suit, Tony put it on as slow as he could, even briefly asking Bruce to help him with the zipper. Which was actually just a reason to get Bruce closer and give him a peck on the lips, closing the zipper himself while doing so.

Bruce bit his lip, helmet under his arms. "We'd better do this before we change our minds," Bruce said. "Now can I have the keys?"

"Mmm, when we get there," Tony smirked, "the racer cars are at the track. These are my regular toys. You haven't seen the real toys yet."

Bruce narrowed his eyes on Tony. "You said I could drive one of the Audi's." Bruce stood a little closer to Tony, lowering his tone. "You lied," he said teasingly.

"Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, Bruce," Tony shook his head, "these are just my normal cars, modified yes, but I got at least a dozen more cars in my second garage at the race track. Also modified. Don't worry, you'll be allowed to drive your Audi soon enough."

"Fine," Bruce sighed, tugging on Tony's hand to drag him to the race track. They arrived a the secondary garage with all of, to Bruce's surprise, Tony's cars that were painted to look like real race cars. He looked at Tony, a bit worried now that maybe he wasn't going to the win this. "You do this a lot don't you?"

"Once a week with Happy Hogan," Tony shrugged and then looked at a shocked Bruce, "we get bored easily."

"I see," Bruce said, finding a board with keys hanging from them and picking up the pair the belonged to the car Tony said Bruce could drive. He fit the helmet over his head and smirked at Tony who was the doing the same. "Ready?"

"Give me a second," Tony mused, looking over all his cars, there were at least a dozen of them, just like Tony had said, and it appeared to be so, that Tony had a hard time picking the perfect car. Let it be said that Tony Stark was picky on his cars.

In the end, and not much to Bruce's surprise, Tony ended up with a more modern version of the hot rod in his main garage. Bright red and gold worked together like the insides of a clock and even Tony's blue suit didn't stick out that much. Both got into their designated cars and drove them to the starting line. Tony must have called Pepper out to the track when Bruce wasn't aware, because she was at the control booth, punching a few things and then a digital clock did a countdown from five.

Bruce looked over at Tony.

Four.

Tony smirked at Bruce.

Three.

Bruce glared at him, mockingly.

Two.

Tony laughed. Bruce knew he wouldn't win this, but the point wasn't to win, it was to get Stark's mind off the stupid dressing Bruce up idea and away from work for a just a bit longer. If Bruce lost, fine. In fact, he was expecting to lose.

One.

Bruce slammed his foot onto the clutch, pushed the car into first gear and and hit the gas. He was neck and neck with Tony, but from the looks of it Tony was going easy. Bruce couldn't have that. He pushed the car further, going into second, and third gear and blasting past Tony. But, not for long. Tony came up on his left as they rounded a corner and suddenly he was ahead of Bruce, leaving Bruce in a path of dust from his tires. Bruce almost smiled.

He pushed the car a little harder, knowing that they were reaching the finish line, but the dust Tony left behind make it a bit more difficult to see, and Bruce ended almost crashing it into the side barrier, but he quickly reacted by pulling the wheel left. However, with the force of how fast he was going, he quickly had to slam on the breaks, drop the car back into first, and skid to a stop. That was the best case scenario and not at all how it actually went. He wasn't able to get the car back down to first in time, hitting the breaks the car skidded and much to Bruce's dismay and horror for what Tony was going to do to him, the car actually flipped from the force, on to its hood and then onto the driver's side, trapping Bruce's arm between the crunched door and the seat. He was far less worried about the pain and the crack he heard, and more worried about Tony's reaction when he finally realized what happened to his precious car.

Once the wreckage came to a halt, Bruce groaned and tried to move, finding out that he could barely do so. The screeching of the tires seconds before the accident were still ringing in his ears as he realized his left arm was definitely broken. Well, it wasn't that bad, not as bad as Tony's reaction to the car accident for sure. Bruce reached over and unbuckled the safety belt, hoping to be able to crawl his way out, but without the use of his left arm, that didn't seem too likely.

"Bruce?" Tony's frantic voice was audible through the intercom the helmets shared and the fact that the man was actually getting closer to the wreckage. Bruce groaned, getting ready for the oncoming storm of lecturing and hoped Tony would go soft on him. Tony took his helmet off and looked into the wreckage and stared at Bruce trying to free himself.

"Yes?" Bruce answered, trying not to sound too hurt, because he really knew he deserved whatever Tony was going to say to him and if Tony knew he was hurt it would just delay the inevitable. Bruce brought his feet up under him and used his right hand to grasp the passenger side window, and scramble to the top of the car, using his legs as leverage.
"...You crashed my car," Tony glared, talking as slow and calm as he could while it was obvious the man was trying not to start dragging Bruce out and start caressing the car, promising it he would make her better. Because all of Tony's cars were female apparently (as he once noted randomly in a conversation to Bruce).
"I know... I know..." Bruce said, trying to stand without help, but that seemed a bit impossible after the tumble he had just taken, so he leaned about the smoking car. Bruce brought up his right hand, the only good one he had at the time and pulled the helmet off. He looked at Tony with the best apologizing face he could manage. "You know I'll have it fixed. I know that doesn't make up for the fact that I crashed it... I know.. Tony, I'm so very, very sorry."

"...You crashed...my...car," Tony repeated, looking at the car and not even listening to Bruce's apology, "...you are so lucky it needed maintenance but...you crashed it. It's totally...wrecked..."

Bruce sighed, this was not going to be easy. "I'm really sorry, Tony. I don't know that I can really make this up to you at all... but if I can..." he trailed off when it seemed obvious that Tony was not listening at all. Bruce heaved a sigh, frowning. "Sorry."

"...Sorry you were saying?" Tony blinked, looking at Bruce for the first time he crashed the car and suddenly, Bruce felt so insignificant. Never, would Bruce mean to Tony what his cars meant to him, "Bruce? You okay? You look sort of...oh my god," Tony's eyes widened, "are you hurt? Bruce? You okay? We got to get you to a hospital! Maybe you got a concussion, Pepper! Call the doctor will you? Bruce? Cupcake? You okay?"
Bruce had been trying to ignore the pain all together; he had had worse than a broken arm, but with Tony's eyes on him it was hard to cover it up. "It's not that bad, Tony," he said trying to dismiss it, now holding his left arm with his right hand. Tony's eyes were wrenched with guilt as he looked over Bruce's torn suit and small wounds.
"...I shouldn't have let you drive that car," Tony bit his lip, "I recently modified it, it's...my fault I should've told you it had a few kinks. I just thought they were out. Oh god Bruce..."
"It's not your fault, Tony..." Bruce grimaced, he had been stupid and tad reckless with the car after all. "You got any aspirin though? As much as I could say this doesn't hurt like hell, I don't feel like lying to you right now."
Tony bit his lip and walked up towards Bruce, kissing him briefly on the lips and trying not to hurt the man too much, "Come on, let's get back to the house, Pepper have you called that doctor yet?!"

Bruce nodded and let Tony guide him by his good arm towards the house, limping a bit since he knee hurt a little, too. "I really am sorry," Bruce murmured as they started up the steps to the house.

"Don't sweat it Wayne, just a car," Tony muttered as he helped Bruce up the steps. Bruce knew better than to believe that it was 'just a car', especially from the way Tony reacted first hand.

"Alright," Bruce said, not pushing it any further. Tony opened the door for him.

Tony helped Bruce sit down on the white couch in the living room, propped the man's leg up on a few pillows, placed a few behind Bruce's back and then claimed he was going to the kitchen to get something to momentarily wrap Bruce's broken arm in. Bruce looked at Tony's retreating form, shoulders slumped and hands in his pockets. Clearly Tony hadn't expected the day to end like this. Not with Bruce hurt and one of his cars in a total wreck. Bruce felt horrible, even though it had just been an accident, he couldn't help but feel like he'd ruined a lot for Tony that day.

He watched as Tony walked back with plastic wrap, but luckily for Bruce, Pepper walked in with the Doctor, who set to looking Bruce over. He explained that he would have to set the bone, so Bruce braced himself for it, and he honestly thought nothing at that moment could hurt worse. Except for seeing the look on Tony's face as the doctor did it. Tony winced a bit as he heard the crack but then immediately found himself crouching down in front of Bruce, holding the man's hand, stroking it with his thumb, refusing to look at him.

The doctor wrapped it and told Bruce he'd need to come in later to have real cast put on it, but that one should hold for a until they got to the hospital. The doctor left, Pepper showing him out, and Bruce was left alone with Tony again, who was being rather distant. Bruce squeezed Tony's hand.

"Tony..." he said softly.

"I'll be in the shop," Tony muttered, kissing Bruce's knuckles softly, giving him a small smile before making his way down the stairs, slower than he usually did. The man usually ran down the stairs (and nearly falling down them sometimes too) when he went to the shop. Sometimes he even skipped down the steps, but now, Tony dragged his feet along and it seemed like he was only going down to escape from the wounds he had inflicted upon Bruce by actually taking up that offer of a race.

Bruce let out a sigh and pushed himself up from the couch with his right hand, making his way to the elevator since it was going to be his only means of getting from floor to floor for a bit. He pushed the garage button and when the doors opened again at ground level, he hobbled off, seeing Tony at his bench working. Bruce knew he'd caused enough 'damage' for the day and wasn't even sure Tony would be in the mood to keep talking to him.

"How can I fix this?" Bruce asked, trying to steady his voice.

"...You know," Tony started, "I can fix anything. Just give it to me and I'll fix it for you, but, you're broken, and not only in the physical sense Bruce, and the thing is...I can't fix you. I gave you a bad car, should've let you drive the Lamborghini anyway, I actually took you up that offer for the damn race, goddammit," Tony gritted his teeth and threw his screwdriver across the room.

"Tony, please..." Bruce begged, his heart was wrenching in his chest and everything he wanted to say or could say just stuck there. He leaned against the wall to steady himself. "I'm okay, the car could possibly be fixed, I'll even pay for it, and this is no one's fault by my own. I was just..." Bruce sighed, "I was just trying to get your mind off of other things."

Tony chuckled, "Don't even think about it. The car is mine, I'll fix it. As I said, I can fix anything. Just not you cupcake, just not you. Anyway enough with the sobbing, next thing we know we're both wearing a dress and blowing our nose in lacy handkerchiefs. Now...how about you, come over here, and kiss me?"

Bruce smirked, shaking his head in some disbelief at Tony. He hobbled over to him, pushing away the few pieces of whatever Tony was working on to the side and sitting directly in front of Tony on his workbench. He bent over, right hand on the back of Tony's neck and kissed him.
---------
A bit later, after Bruce and Tony decided to drop the subject of whose fault it really was, Tony drove Bruce to hospital to be fitted for a his cast. When asked what color he wanted, Bruce said black, which Tony snickered at, rolling his eyes. When they got home tony grabbed a silver marker and proceeded to chase Bruce (much to Bruce's dismay and much hobbling) around the living room until Bruce stumbled over the side of a chair and ended up seated on the couch. Tony took the opportunity to come at him with the marker.

"One way or another, Brucie, I will personalize this for you. So you can sit and deal with it now or you can wait and be surprised when you wake in the morning," Tony said as he began to doodle. Bruce glared at him. On most occasions he would have pushed Tony away, but Bruce had crashed one of his favorite cars and it was going to be the little things that made it up to Tony.

"No bats," Bruce demanded. "Trying to be inconspicuous and that won't help."
"There you go ruining my fun again," Tony replied, smirking, "is that your favorite past time or something?"
Grinning, Tony still grabbed Bruce's arm towards him and held the cap of the silver marker in his mouth while he drew on several 1's and 0's at the edge of the cast. Bruce frowned, wondering what Tony was getting up to as he continued writing a series of 1's and 0's in a inconsistent way. After he got done with the first line of numbers, Tony leaned back and looked upon it, nodded and then started to draw a miniature Iron Man on the cast. Apparently, the man had come prepared because soon, he removed the silver marker from his hand and replaced it with a red one while the golden, well, more yellow'ish one was clenched between his teeth.

Bruce stared down at the cast as Tony drew. "I'm afraid to ask if that says 'Belongs to Tony Stark'..."

"Why don't you Google the numbers?" Tony smirked as he kept drawing a little, less technical, Iron Man on Bruce's cast and tried to make it look as good as he could.

"I have a feeling I'm better off not knowing," Bruce replied, looking at the little cartoon-ish looking Iron Man; it was kind of adorable looking. "Too bad you're suit isn't that cute."

"My suit is cute," Tony pouted.

"It's a chunk of metal armor and more intimidating than anything," Bruce said, trying not to laugh. He knew he was getting to Tony.
"It's a cute chunk of armor. Stop hurting it's feelings," Tony kept pouting, hoping it would convince Bruce.
Bruce snorted back a laugh. "Alright, it's cute. Whatever you say."

"You're cuter though," Tony looked slyly up at Bruce, still working on the finish touches of the little Iron Man, Tony Stark always did love his details.

"Mmm," Bruce mumbled, watching Tony put on the last touches. Being called cute wasn't something heard often, other things... yes, but not cute. "Almost done?"

"...Um...yea, I think it's done," Tony sat up, put the cap back on the pen and grinned up at Bruce to see his reaction to it.

Bruce checked out the whole thing, straining his neck to see it from Tony's point of view. He grinned; he had definitely just been marked by Tony Stark. "And now I have to walk around with this showing for at least a month."

"Are you saying it's not pretty?"

"I didn't say that," Bruce replied, shaking his head a bit. "It's just that everyone is going to ask now, especially since you've drawn yourself on it."

"It's not me exactly, I just drew Iron Man on it. Iron Man is cool don't you know?" Tony crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared at Bruce, "and it's not like anybody except me actually knows how to read binary language and make sure it's inconspicuous to crane their neck to read the whole line."

Bruce shifted, trying to get his arm in a more comfortable position; having it stuck in one spot wasn't really the nicest. "Very cool," Bruce replied. "And you aren't going to tell me what it says are you?"
"Like I said, google it," Tony winked, "or convince me to actually tell you. You know, whatever fits your fancy."
Bruce frowned, really wishing he had the capability to tackle Tony over and pin him to the ground. He glanced at his arm and then to Tony. "Guess I'll google later, when you know, I have better control over my fingers."

Tony looked sad at Bruce's hand, half hidden in the cast and then lifted it up to kiss the tops of Bruce's fingers, "your poor little fingers."

Bruce raised an eyebrow at him. "When this cast comes off you are so paying for all this sappiness you're pouring on me."

"I'm sorry, would you like some sugar with it? Or milk?"
"Actually," Bruce said, pulling on Tony's shirt to bring him closer, "I would. I think I owe you an apology as it is."
"Mmm, for what? Being a little bit foxy?"

Bruce put his good arm around Tony's waist and pulled him on to his lap. "No, for the car and worry."

"Forget it, Bruce," Tony smiled and ruffled Bruce's hair, "boys will be boys."

Bruce sighed heavily, leaning his head back against the sofa, looking up at Tony. "You make everything so difficult, Tony Stark."

"I don't see how I make things difficult Bruce Wayne, do explain..."

"You're oblivious to my advances and trying to make excuses to get close to you," Bruce explained, holding on a little tighter to Tony with his right arm.

"Ooooh, is that what you were trying to do?" Tony looked at Bruce and then grinned, "you could've just asked for me to come closer you know?"

"My arm around you isn't asking enough?" Bruce asked, gazing up into Tony's eyes.

"It wasn't around me earlier now was it?"

Tony was clearly enjoying their banter. Bruce had to admit, he quite liked it too. It kept them talking and banned the uncomfortable silences he sometimes had when he had a female date and ran out of things to compliment about her.

"It is now when I pulled you over here. I can't really get the other arm around you, Tony," Bruce said slyly.

"Mmm, yea, we'll have to do something about that," Tony frowned, letting his tongue stick out at the corner of his mouth.
"Do something about it? What does that mean?"