Chapter Eleven: Christmas
Title: Calling a Truce: Christmas
Authors: Destinyawakened and MJLS
Rating: pg-13
words: 5300
Pairings/Characters: Tony Stark/Bruce Wayne, Alfred, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake
Summary: Christmas Time comes with lots of gift and surprises.
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: White Christmas - Robert Downey Jr and Vonda Shepard
Parts: One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten |
Bruce had been back in Gotham for a little over three weeks, returning from Malibu exactly two weeks after being there. Tony was not happy Bruce had left with his arm still in a cast, but Bruce insisted he would call every single day to give Tony an update. Alfred had not been at all happy to hear about Bruce's mishap on Tony's racetrack and gave Bruce a lecture on crashing cars, not that it ever did any good. Bruce returned from the doctor that day and had just had the cast removed. A month was pretty soon to have it removed, but the break had been clean and healing went well (and Bruce had always healed quickly).
He stood in the bunker, looking at the Batsuit and found he actually couldn't wait to get the suit back on after being down for a month. Dick had been doing a great job in keeping the streets clean and it gave Bruce time to get to know young Timothy Drake a little bit better. The papers had gone through that day, in fact, much to the demise of the press who insisted that Bruce was not fit to be father, let alone twice over. But, Bruce had the means and money to take care of the two boys and people seemed to pass over the recent pictures published in the tabloids of Bruce and Tony, especially when Bruce's lawyer got a hold of them and claimed they were doctored with a photoshop program.
"Why doesn't it surprise me you adopted the kid for real?" Tony's voice popped up behind him, either Tony managed to hack into Bruce's computer and activate the video conversation from Malibu or the man just had remote control. Both was possible for Tony Stark.
Bruce turned to the computer console, taking a seat at his desk. "I told you I was going to. You never listen."
"Well, you know, I'm more focused on the way you move and talk and manage to look so goddamn sexy, I don't really seem to have much attention left for your actual conversation."
"Oh, so you're in this for my looks? Is that it?" Bruce asked, leaning back in chair, and grinning at the man on his screen.
"...Sorry Bruce, I should've told you sooner but yes, I am screwing you for your money. I'm secretly going to kill you during one of our wild sex orgies and take it all. I'm so sorry."
Bruce shook his head, his smiling getting bigger at each word that poured from Tony's mouth. "I miss you, Tony."
Tony grinned and scrunched up his nose. "Rightly so."
"What did you do today?" Bruce asked, flexing the finger of his left hand, trying to warm up the muscles he hadn't been able to use for a month.
"Miss you?" Tony raised an eyebrow, "oh and got Pepper angry, her face was nearly as red as her hair."
"What did you do now?"
"Well you know, this and that. Mostly I just decided to go and walk around naked in my own garden, and then of course, you know, blow my workshop up a bit. The usual."
"You walked around naked in your garden?" Bruce asked slyly. "And I missed it?" Ignoring that Tony blew up his workshop, again, because it was something he did at least once a week it seemed.
"Nothing you haven't seen before Bruce, trust me," Tony winked at Bruce and started tinkering with something Bruce couldn't see from the angle the web cam was.
Bruce yawned, leaning his face into his left hand. "Still..." Bruce mumbled, not going on because he didn't feel he had much else to say there. He looked at Tony curiously. "Anything new you're working on? And don't tell me its nothing important because you don't think I would understand."
"It's this new thing for the military. Don't really know why I'm working on it since I rarely do military contracts anymore. This proved to be a challenge though. A modified PDA so they can lock into the satellites and so see the other side's troops and stuff. Rhodes explained it but I don't really care, all I need to do apparently is make sure this PDA is modified to connect with satellites. Easy peasy, pumpkin peasy. Pumpkin pie cricket!"
"Sounds tedious," Bruce commented. He shifted, and they both got quiet again. "What're your plans in a few weeks?"
"Oh this and that, you know, try to meet a French aristocrat maybe, they're visiting the US apparently," Tony rolled his eyes, "or at least, so Pepper says. It'd be good for my image too according to her. You should come! We could steal the show!"
Bruce laughed lightly. "Let me be for specific: what are you doing on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?"
"Getting drunk? What else would I be doing, cupcake?" Tony chuckled, throwing away his screwdriver.
"Spending a white Christmas here in Gotham with Alfred, myself and the boys?" Bruce asked, hopeful. Christmas was not Bruce's favorite time of year, in fact if he had to pick a time he hated the most, it would be the holiday season. It was always too much of a reminder about what he'd lost and how once his parents died the magical of it all vanished. This year, with Tony and the two boys, seemed hopeful for something better.
"...Oooo! I want a pony, Bruce!"
Bruce sighed and rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger. "A pony? Really? I ask you to spend the biggest family holiday of the year with me and my family and you ask me for a pony?"
"...Well...yes," Tony looked away, "I mean, my daddy never gave me one and you know, I'd actually have to come to Gotham to actually get it and all so..."
Bruce rubbed his hands together, fully aware Tony wasn't being serious. "Tell you what, Tony. You come for Christmas, you can even bring Miss Potts if you want, and I'll give you a pony you can ride," Bruce said slyly.
"...Miss Potts goes to her family for the holidays, and should I bring my whip?"
"You have a whip?" Bruce asked, thrown off guard by the comment for a moment.
"Bruce, there isn't a thing in the world I don't have right now. I even have you," Tony grinned.
-------
Bruce waited on the tarmac of the private landing strip at the airport for Tony's jet to arrive. He had left Alfred, Dick, and Tim at the Penthouse to finish decorating the Christmas tree and wrap the presents. Alfred was busy preparing Christmas Eve dinner as well as getting things ready for the next days big meal. And none of them wanted Bruce around to help, since earlier in the week he kept telling them they were doing everything wrong and placing decorations up around the living room the wrong way. Bruce wanted Christmas to be perfect -- it was the first year he actually had someone he cared about, with returned feelings, to share it with.
He shuffled his feet against the pavement, looking ahead as Tony's jet set down. He dug his hands deep into his winter coat pockets, nervously. A month away from Tony and it felt like meeting the man for the first time again, but with a sense familiarity. He felt like a damned teenager again. The plane came to a stop and minutes later Tony was strutting down the steps, looking suddenly taken back by just how freezing it was on Gotham. Tony kept a smile on his face, though a visible shiver cringed across his face for a moment. Bruce met him at the bottom of the steps.
"Welcome to Gotham in the winter time," Bruce said, giving Tony a bright smile, an emotion of actual happiness that Alfred even commented on, saying that Tony Stark seemed to have been the only one to warrant that from him these days.
"Yea? Well, it's friggin freezing," Tony grumbled, "can't you warm me up?"
Bruce grinned and pulled Tony into a hug, wrapping an arm around his waist and using his other (gloved) hand to stroke Tony's face lovingly. "I can warm you up this way... but I'm sure Alfred has some brandy eggnog ready at the penthouse for you." He kissed Tony's lips softly.
"Mmm, brandy, prefer scotch but brandy's alright too! Can I have some sparkles of Bruce Wayne with it though?" Tony babbled as they walked towards the car, arms around each other to keep each other warm until they got in the car where the heating did it for them.
"Sparkles?" Bruce questioned as he started to drive towards the Penthouse. They didn't have to wait on Tony's things because he had them flown in the day before (along with the loads of presents for the boys that Bruce warned him not to do).
"Yup! You know those sparkles they have for gay unicorns, and rainbows and stuff? Now I want some from you!"
Bruce just shook his head and laughed. A lot of what Tony said was blatant bullshit and made to get a rise out of him, but Bruce caught on quickly. "I'll, uh, have to see if that can be arranged. Do you want that in your eggnog or on the side as a dessert?"
"Hmm, I think I'll go for dessert," Tony grinned, winking at Bruce and then closed his eyes briefly, commenting on how Bruce should 'wake him up' when they got there. They arrived ten minutes later, traffic through town was quite breezy, and Bruce slid into his usual parking space in the garage. He touched Tony's face with his finger tips, kissing his lips just lightly enough to wake him.
"Come on," Bruce said, sliding out of the car.
"Can I have dessert now?" Tony asked hopeful as he got out of the car, stretched out (and showing Bruce a part of his tummy thanks to his shirt moving up when he stretched) and walked up to Bruce to snuggle the man from behind.
Bruce placed his hands on Tony's as the man wrapped his arms around his waist. Bruce pushed the call button for the elevator. "We haven't even had dinner yet and the kids are still awake. But, I promise you'll get your dessert." The elevator car arrived and Bruce shuffled in, pulling Tony with him. He pushed Tony into the wall and kissed him passionately, hand in his hair and pushing his knee between Tony's legs.
"Can I have a pre-dinner-dessert then?" Tony grinned. Bruce looked back at the numbers flying by, biting his lip. As much as he just wanted to grope and manhandle Tony right there, he didn't want to surprise anyone when they arrived at the penthouse.
"You're just going to have to wait," Bruce whispered into Tony's ear, rubbing his knee into Tony's crotch briefly and then moved away from him, allowing Tony to recompose himself before they got to the top.
"Do I have too?" Tony whined. The elevator dinged and the doors opened and Bruce motioned to the three males standing at the doors, waiting for them.
"Yeah, you do," Bruce said, smirking. He walked out of the car, pulling Tony with him. They quickly shed their coats and gloves, handing them to Alfred who took them to the closet.
Tony sighed and thanked Alfred for taking care of his coat and gloves before he followed Bruce like a lost puppy. Normally Tony would've gone off exploring the penthouse but it seemed the man was quite attached to Bruce at this point and refused to leave him. Bruce took a hold of Tony's hand, guiding him to the kitchen where there was a silver tray with a few small mugs full of the eggnog Bruce had spoken of. He handed one to Tony, and waited for his reaction. Everyone who came to any of Bruce's functions during the Christmas season demanded Alfred's eggnog.
"Is this the famous eggnog?" Tony raised an eyebrow and sniffed the mug for a second.
"Yes," Bruce said as he sipped from his own mug. "He only makes it at Christmas time. And even then you have to either beg him to make it or be a guest. You saved me from having to beg."
"I wouldn't mind seeing you on your knees," Tony said slyly as he leaned closer to Bruce and kissed the man's lips briefly. Tony went to pull back and Bruce placed his mug down for a moment, grasping the sides of Tony's face to keep his lips there, kissing him slowly.
Bruce sighed and looked Tony in the eyes. "God, I missed you." Words he never really thought he'd say to Tony just a few months prior, but he really had grown attached. Tony made Bruce feel a way he never thought would actually ever happen for him. What was it? Complete?
"Mm, you're right, this is good eggnog," Tony sipped from the cup a second time, "and I suppose, I missed you too."
Bruce grinned, taking another sip. "So, on my knees, hm?" he asked, changing the subject back to the blatant flirting, not wanting to linger any more than was comfortable on the sap.
"Well, like I said, I wouldn't mind," Tony nodded.
"You're going to have to make up your mind," Bruce said, finishing his cup of eggnog and putting the mug down on the counter. "You mentioned wanting a pony to ride a few weeks ago. So which do you want more?" Bruce winked at Tony.
"All I want in the end is waking up next to you," Tony admitted, suddenly showing pure seriousness in his face but that only made Bruce love him even more.
Bruce sighed. "We're going to need to do something about you living so far from Gotham," he said. "These spending a month or two away from each other at one time is going to start to get old."
"I'm not moving from Malibu, took me years to get the house up there," Tony put down the empty mug of eggnog and grabbed another one.
"Hmm..." Bruce breathed, placing his palms flat on the counter top, leaning on it. Not quite the answer he wanted from Tony, but it was the answer he expected. Bruce wasn't going to offer to move either, his place was in Gotham -- the place he was born and the city he had sworn to protect. He looked over at Tony and just offered him a simple smile. He'd just have to live with things the way they were.
"Besides, things are good now. Distance makes the heart grow fonder or something like that?"
"Yeah..." Bruce replied, taking another mug from the tray. "Something like that." He cleared his throat a few seconds later. "Your packages arrived yesterday. The presents for the boys. Didn't I tell you not to go overboard?"
"I didn't," Tony said innocently, "trust me, I tried not to spend too much money." Somehow, Bruce didn't believe him. Alfred walked into the kitchen, wiping his hands on a dishrag.
"Master Wayne and Master Stark, dinner is served," he said, motioning them to the table.
------
Bruce was woken up at seven in the morning by the sound of Alfred walking past the door, trailing Tim down the hall way. Bruce rolled over, snuggling his face into Tony's neck, who was still completely passed out from the night before, where he drank more than his fair share of eggnog and scotch. Bruce heard another set of footsteps past the door and he finally knew he needed to get up. He planted a kiss on Tony's shoulder and covered him with the rest of the blankets. He pulled on his sleep pants and robe and walked out of the room and down the hall to the living room.
Alfred was setting up breakfast and coffee while Dick and Tim were shaking presents under the huge tinseled Christmas tree. Bruce was glad to see Tim was getting a long so well with Dick and that the barriers he had built around himself over the last month were starting to crack. Bruce sat down in his reclining chair, watching the boys. Alfred walked up to him and placed a piping hot mug of coffee into his hands.
"Thanks, Alfred," Bruce murmured, still trying to wake up completely.
"Is Master Stark still sleeping?" Alfred asked, a second cup in his hands.
"Yes," Bruce answered sipping his cup. "Hopefully he'll be up soon. He'll want that coffee, I know that much." Alfred nodded and went to finish baking the cinnamon rolls. Bruce watched the boys a little longer, some time had passed, and he started to grow impatient with Tony as well. Hadn't he told him not to drink so much? Not that he could complain much, the wild night of sex it lead to was quite worth it.
"Bruce? Can we open our presents yet? I mean, they're tempting and calling out to us!" Tim pleaded, looking with big eyes at Bruce who shook his head.
"You can wait a little longer," Bruce replied. Tim folded his arms over his chest and glared at the hallway, knowing that they were having to wait for Tony. Dick put a hand on Tim's shoulder, possibly to calm him.
"But I don't want to wait!"
Bruce rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger; why did he agree to take in these kids again? Oh, right pity and thinking he could help. He sighed. "Look, five minutes. If, uh, Tony isn't up by then you two can start with the gifts from Alfred and I."
"We all know Stark'll sleep through a fire if he felt like it," Dick muttered, "can't we go and wake him up to spare us the trouble of actually waiting?"
"Now don't be silly, Master Richard," Alfred smiled, "I'm sure Master Stark will be up soon once he realizes what day it is."
Tim pouted and laid down on the carpet, waiting to hear the footsteps of Tony coming closer to the living room but it was to no avail. The only footsteps Tim heard right now belonged to Alfred and the man wasn't going to sit down anytime soon. Dick sighed and stood up, getting himself another cup of coffee and briefly muttering to Bruce that if Tony wasn't up in five minutes, he was going to literally shake the man out of his rouse. Bruce glared at Dick and then shook his head amused.
Alfred brought Tim a cup of hot chocolate, which only made the teen frown more since he knew that they were just trying to take his mind off presents. Bruce really just wanted to see the kid smile again and thought that the last month he made some progress with him. He hoped Christmas wasn't a downfall. Bruce leaned back in his chair to check down the hall way hoping that Tony would be coming down. Alfred had walked over to the stereo system and fiddled around with the system, putting on some Christmas music to occupy everyone.
"Bruce? Have you met the French? My god they know how to party," Tony stumbled in, giggling a bit as he scratched his hair in even a bigger mess than it already was.
Bruce raised an eyebrow at Tony. "I know quite a few French..." Not quite sure where that had come from or why Tony was bringing it up.
"Did you know? They didn't even know what a banana daiquiri was. Always bring a banana to a party Bruce," Tony grinned, pulling the man up and kissing him, "banana's are good," Tony grinned sly and groped Bruce in his groin, thankfully out of sight of Alfred, Tim and Dick.
"I'll, uh, try to remember that," Bruce said, kissing Tony quickly on the lips before firmly planting the, obviously still tipsy, man on the couch. Tim was already scrambling for presents and Alfred handed Bruce another cup of coffee to hand to Tony.
"Coffee! Drink of the gods, thank you, Alfred," Tony smiled groggily, the moment of excitement vanished from his eyes as he rubbed his temple. Bruce sat down next to Tony, kissing his cheek before giving Tim and Dick the go ahead to start shelling out the presents.
Tony smiled at the sight of a young adult and teenager opening presents and thanking Tony with big eyes and grins. Bruce watched as the boys opened every gift from Tony, items from a new game system with games to go with it, including something called Rockband, which Bruce had never heard of -- one present however, made Dick pause, stand up and walk up towards Tony with a frown on his face.
"Whatever is this supposed to be?"
"It's my little black book," Tony smirked, "use it wisely."
Dick had a giddy little look on his face as he sat down on the floor and starting skimming the names and number. Bruce looked at Tony in annoyance. "Really, Tony?"
"Eh, don't need it anymore, and be glad I didn't give it to Tim," Tony looked sort of pleased by Dick's reaction, "I got you, don't got the need for any of those girls now. Dick will use it wisely I'm sure."
Though Bruce wanted to be more annoyed, he couldn't bring himself to be mad at Tony after an answer like that. "Yeah, he's a good kid."
Tim had started in on the second round of presents, slightly smaller and less of them, ones from Bruce. Tim and Dick opened matching ones and then stared at Bruce with big frowns on their faces. "Bruce, what is this?" Dick asked, holding up the book.
"It's a book on survival. You could both use to read it and learn something," Bruce said, not even blinking.
"You are so boring," Tony muttered.
"What?" Bruce asked, looking a bit offended. "Some of us aren't born geniuses and require some training to actually escape near death. In the line of work Dick is just now getting into, he's going to be happy to have read that when something awful happens."
"Trust me, Bruce, those books are rubbish."
"Would you prefer that I take them out for survival lessons? I can do the exact training I went through in Tibet to them. It just means I'll be gone for seven years..."
"Psht, can't you just do that here in Gotham? I mean, you got the money," Tony pouted. Bruce shook his head, ignoring Tony's comment all together. The boys had ripped open the last of the gifts, new clothes and other video games from Alfred, and Bruce knew that he'd be on the least liked list for Christmases from then on out. He open the side table drawer next to the couch and pulled out a small red and gold wrapped package and handed it to Tony.
"I know we said we weren't going to buy anything for each other, but..." Bruce said, shrugging, not bothering to continue.
"Oh hush you, you'd really think I'd keep to your rules?" Tony raised an eyebrow before throwing a black package to Bruce, "have that from me okay?"
Tony opened the present Bruce gave him and frowned when he saw it was a miniature car. One of those special collectible ones, but more specifically, the one Bruce crashed a few weeks back. Tony stared at it for a while and then chuckled, shaking his head and pulling Bruce in a kiss, telling the man he loved it.
"I knew you wouldn't accept a real one, so this had to do," Bruce said, smiling. He looked down at the package Tony threw at him and tore open the black wrapping. Bruce opened the box and inside was a little robotic looking bat figure with what looked to be a tiny arc reactor in its chest. Bruce held it in his hand and looked at Tony, confused. "Uhm..."
"I was bored," Tony looked at his nails, a tiny smile on his lips.
Bruce smirked. "You're never bored," he said, knowing that Tony had probably put a lot of thought into this and was making excuses. Bruce kissed him. "Thank you, I do love it."
"Just don't crash it," Tony smiled in the kiss, "knowing you. Although, it is voice controlled and only by your voice so you'd actually have to command it to fly in a wall to crash it but knowing you."
"I won't crash it," Bruce promised. "I don't actually crash everything, you know."
"Oh no, course not," Tony said, amused, "just cars eh?"
"It's usually on purpose. The only time I crashed a car and it was an actually accident was the other week..." Bruce trailed off, not really wanted to remember that. "Anyway, I'm glad you decided to come stay for the holidays... I'd have hated to see you spend them alone."
Tony smiled sadly and ruffled Bruce's hair, "I would've just ended up going to a club anyway, you know me Bruce, never sitting still."
Bruce cupped Tony's chin with his hand and kissed him again. "Like I said, glad you decided to spend it with us." And not having to worry that Tony was getting drunk at a club.
"Eeew," Tim scrunched up his nose and then winked at Dick who couldn't help but grin and shake his head.
"Don't you two have new video games to go play with?" Bruce asked, pulling back from Tony and resting back against the couch.
"You mean we don't have to sit here and read this awful books to bought us?" Dick asked, getting to his feet. Tim was right behind him with the new Wii Tony bought them.
"No, go have fun. It's Christmas," Bruce muttered, waving them off.
Tony grinned and gave the kids some pointers on how to play the game best, having experience apparently, before waving them off and accepting another cup of coffee from Alfred. Bruce threw his arm over the back of the couch just above Tony, sipping his own new cup of coffee and enjoying the quiet and closeness with the man next to him. Alfred was cleaning up the wrapping mess and trailing after the boys to clean up after themselves.
"By the way," Tony snuggled into Bruce, "I haven't told you this yet but Maya is in jail now."
Bruce furrowed his brow, trying to remember who Maya was. Oh, right that was his friend who was working on the Extremis project Tony mentioned a month or so back. "What happened?"
"She and her boss stole one of the Extremis doses and gave it to a terrorist who apparently survived. Even I wasn't fast enough to stop him," Tony sighed.
"That's unfortunate," Bruce sighed, wondering if he should be worried that Tony didn't tell him this sooner -- when had it happened?
Tony winced and sat up, stroking Bruce's cheek, "I had to take the risk, you do know that don't you?"
Bruce tipped his head slightly, confused and a bit panicked. "What are you talking about, Tony?" He was sure there was something else there Tony wasn't telling him...
"Maya warned me about the consequences, I altered it, removed a few fail-safe points, I knew there was only a 3% survival chance but Bruce, I had to risk it."
Bruce pulled away from Tony, folding his arms over his chest. "Wait. Just wait," he said, his throat feeling as if it were closing up on him, harder to breathe. "You injected it into yourself? And you didn't think to at least tell me or warn me.... something? You were just going to wait and see if you died or not?"
"I was already dying Bruce, I didn't have time," Tony looked away.
Bruce didn't answer, he simply stood from the couch and started to pace the room, hands on his head nervously. It was over, Tony had already done it and he was alive; that should have been enough for Bruce, but yet it didn't feel like enough at all. Exactly what did this make Tony? Super human?
"Bruce, you got to know, I had to risk it. If I didn't, I would've died from my internal injuries eventually. I didn't have time to consult anyone. I made up my mind and did it, but you were on my mind every step of the way, you must know that."
"I know," Bruce said as he finally stopped pacing, looking out the large glass windows at the snowy streets of Gotham.
"This arc reactor isn't real Bruce," Tony stood up and walked over towards Bruce, holding the fake arc reactor in his hand, he had gotten it out just before leaving his room to join Bruce, "Extremis healed me, I'm all right."
Bruce looked at the fake reactor in Tony's hands and then back at Tony. "What does this change?"
"Nothing," Tony whispered, taking Bruce's hand in his and stroking it with his thumb, "it changes nothing between us."
"That's not quite what I meant," Bruce said using the same tone Tony had. He brought up his free hand and let his finger tips glide over the spot in Tony's chest where the reactor used to be. "What changes with you?"
"I removed Maya's stuff, put in some of my own. No one else but me can now use the suit, it's embedded in my bones, now I can use a lighter version of my armor and move faster. Oh and I also see through satellites, there is one exactly above your penthouse and trust me, it's so handy if I'm feeling lonely and want to spy on you," Tony smiled, trying to put a little humor in the situation, "my body also heals itself faster than normal human beings, oh and I don't get sick."
"Almost immortal," Bruce mumbled, dropping his hands to his sides. He was happy, beyond happy for Tony, but it left himself feeling rather... weak.
"I can die," Tony smiled, "trust me, I can, I still got a beating heart that can be stopped. Extremis enhancement speeds up a person's repair process and hence the body's cells died and regenerated at a faster rate. That's all. I can die Bruce."
"Let's..." Bruce sighed, forcing a smile," let's not think about that."
Tony stroked Bruce's cheek and kissed the man, "I'm still me, but if you need time or don't want to continue...us, I wouldn't hold it against you."
Bruce wrapped his arms around Tony's waist and pulled him closer. "Why would you think that?" He pressed his forehead against Tony's. "I've worked too hard to get you where I want you," Bruce teased a bit.
"I don't know," Tony scrunched up his nose, "I shouldn't have kept this from you. I just didn't feel like calling you and going 'hey Bruce, guess what? I was dying and took a life threatening virus that could've killed me but I'm alive now and oh have I mentioned I see through satellites now and just thinking this? I don't even need a cellphone anymore', it wouldn't have been a good way to tell you."
"No, not really," Bruce agreed. "I'm glad you're alright and I'm grateful you aren't dead, at least."
"You don't get rid of me that easily," Tony smiled, kissing Bruce again.
Authors: Destinyawakened and MJLS
Rating: pg-13
words: 5300
Pairings/Characters: Tony Stark/Bruce Wayne, Alfred, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake
Summary: Christmas Time comes with lots of gift and surprises.
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: White Christmas - Robert Downey Jr and Vonda Shepard
Parts: One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten |
Bruce had been back in Gotham for a little over three weeks, returning from Malibu exactly two weeks after being there. Tony was not happy Bruce had left with his arm still in a cast, but Bruce insisted he would call every single day to give Tony an update. Alfred had not been at all happy to hear about Bruce's mishap on Tony's racetrack and gave Bruce a lecture on crashing cars, not that it ever did any good. Bruce returned from the doctor that day and had just had the cast removed. A month was pretty soon to have it removed, but the break had been clean and healing went well (and Bruce had always healed quickly).
He stood in the bunker, looking at the Batsuit and found he actually couldn't wait to get the suit back on after being down for a month. Dick had been doing a great job in keeping the streets clean and it gave Bruce time to get to know young Timothy Drake a little bit better. The papers had gone through that day, in fact, much to the demise of the press who insisted that Bruce was not fit to be father, let alone twice over. But, Bruce had the means and money to take care of the two boys and people seemed to pass over the recent pictures published in the tabloids of Bruce and Tony, especially when Bruce's lawyer got a hold of them and claimed they were doctored with a photoshop program.
"Why doesn't it surprise me you adopted the kid for real?" Tony's voice popped up behind him, either Tony managed to hack into Bruce's computer and activate the video conversation from Malibu or the man just had remote control. Both was possible for Tony Stark.
Bruce turned to the computer console, taking a seat at his desk. "I told you I was going to. You never listen."
"Well, you know, I'm more focused on the way you move and talk and manage to look so goddamn sexy, I don't really seem to have much attention left for your actual conversation."
"Oh, so you're in this for my looks? Is that it?" Bruce asked, leaning back in chair, and grinning at the man on his screen.
"...Sorry Bruce, I should've told you sooner but yes, I am screwing you for your money. I'm secretly going to kill you during one of our wild sex orgies and take it all. I'm so sorry."
Bruce shook his head, his smiling getting bigger at each word that poured from Tony's mouth. "I miss you, Tony."
Tony grinned and scrunched up his nose. "Rightly so."
"What did you do today?" Bruce asked, flexing the finger of his left hand, trying to warm up the muscles he hadn't been able to use for a month.
"Miss you?" Tony raised an eyebrow, "oh and got Pepper angry, her face was nearly as red as her hair."
"What did you do now?"
"Well you know, this and that. Mostly I just decided to go and walk around naked in my own garden, and then of course, you know, blow my workshop up a bit. The usual."
"You walked around naked in your garden?" Bruce asked slyly. "And I missed it?" Ignoring that Tony blew up his workshop, again, because it was something he did at least once a week it seemed.
"Nothing you haven't seen before Bruce, trust me," Tony winked at Bruce and started tinkering with something Bruce couldn't see from the angle the web cam was.
Bruce yawned, leaning his face into his left hand. "Still..." Bruce mumbled, not going on because he didn't feel he had much else to say there. He looked at Tony curiously. "Anything new you're working on? And don't tell me its nothing important because you don't think I would understand."
"It's this new thing for the military. Don't really know why I'm working on it since I rarely do military contracts anymore. This proved to be a challenge though. A modified PDA so they can lock into the satellites and so see the other side's troops and stuff. Rhodes explained it but I don't really care, all I need to do apparently is make sure this PDA is modified to connect with satellites. Easy peasy, pumpkin peasy. Pumpkin pie cricket!"
"Sounds tedious," Bruce commented. He shifted, and they both got quiet again. "What're your plans in a few weeks?"
"Oh this and that, you know, try to meet a French aristocrat maybe, they're visiting the US apparently," Tony rolled his eyes, "or at least, so Pepper says. It'd be good for my image too according to her. You should come! We could steal the show!"
Bruce laughed lightly. "Let me be for specific: what are you doing on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day?"
"Getting drunk? What else would I be doing, cupcake?" Tony chuckled, throwing away his screwdriver.
"Spending a white Christmas here in Gotham with Alfred, myself and the boys?" Bruce asked, hopeful. Christmas was not Bruce's favorite time of year, in fact if he had to pick a time he hated the most, it would be the holiday season. It was always too much of a reminder about what he'd lost and how once his parents died the magical of it all vanished. This year, with Tony and the two boys, seemed hopeful for something better.
"...Oooo! I want a pony, Bruce!"
Bruce sighed and rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger. "A pony? Really? I ask you to spend the biggest family holiday of the year with me and my family and you ask me for a pony?"
"...Well...yes," Tony looked away, "I mean, my daddy never gave me one and you know, I'd actually have to come to Gotham to actually get it and all so..."
Bruce rubbed his hands together, fully aware Tony wasn't being serious. "Tell you what, Tony. You come for Christmas, you can even bring Miss Potts if you want, and I'll give you a pony you can ride," Bruce said slyly.
"...Miss Potts goes to her family for the holidays, and should I bring my whip?"
"You have a whip?" Bruce asked, thrown off guard by the comment for a moment.
"Bruce, there isn't a thing in the world I don't have right now. I even have you," Tony grinned.
-------
Bruce waited on the tarmac of the private landing strip at the airport for Tony's jet to arrive. He had left Alfred, Dick, and Tim at the Penthouse to finish decorating the Christmas tree and wrap the presents. Alfred was busy preparing Christmas Eve dinner as well as getting things ready for the next days big meal. And none of them wanted Bruce around to help, since earlier in the week he kept telling them they were doing everything wrong and placing decorations up around the living room the wrong way. Bruce wanted Christmas to be perfect -- it was the first year he actually had someone he cared about, with returned feelings, to share it with.
He shuffled his feet against the pavement, looking ahead as Tony's jet set down. He dug his hands deep into his winter coat pockets, nervously. A month away from Tony and it felt like meeting the man for the first time again, but with a sense familiarity. He felt like a damned teenager again. The plane came to a stop and minutes later Tony was strutting down the steps, looking suddenly taken back by just how freezing it was on Gotham. Tony kept a smile on his face, though a visible shiver cringed across his face for a moment. Bruce met him at the bottom of the steps.
"Welcome to Gotham in the winter time," Bruce said, giving Tony a bright smile, an emotion of actual happiness that Alfred even commented on, saying that Tony Stark seemed to have been the only one to warrant that from him these days.
"Yea? Well, it's friggin freezing," Tony grumbled, "can't you warm me up?"
Bruce grinned and pulled Tony into a hug, wrapping an arm around his waist and using his other (gloved) hand to stroke Tony's face lovingly. "I can warm you up this way... but I'm sure Alfred has some brandy eggnog ready at the penthouse for you." He kissed Tony's lips softly.
"Mmm, brandy, prefer scotch but brandy's alright too! Can I have some sparkles of Bruce Wayne with it though?" Tony babbled as they walked towards the car, arms around each other to keep each other warm until they got in the car where the heating did it for them.
"Sparkles?" Bruce questioned as he started to drive towards the Penthouse. They didn't have to wait on Tony's things because he had them flown in the day before (along with the loads of presents for the boys that Bruce warned him not to do).
"Yup! You know those sparkles they have for gay unicorns, and rainbows and stuff? Now I want some from you!"
Bruce just shook his head and laughed. A lot of what Tony said was blatant bullshit and made to get a rise out of him, but Bruce caught on quickly. "I'll, uh, have to see if that can be arranged. Do you want that in your eggnog or on the side as a dessert?"
"Hmm, I think I'll go for dessert," Tony grinned, winking at Bruce and then closed his eyes briefly, commenting on how Bruce should 'wake him up' when they got there. They arrived ten minutes later, traffic through town was quite breezy, and Bruce slid into his usual parking space in the garage. He touched Tony's face with his finger tips, kissing his lips just lightly enough to wake him.
"Come on," Bruce said, sliding out of the car.
"Can I have dessert now?" Tony asked hopeful as he got out of the car, stretched out (and showing Bruce a part of his tummy thanks to his shirt moving up when he stretched) and walked up to Bruce to snuggle the man from behind.
Bruce placed his hands on Tony's as the man wrapped his arms around his waist. Bruce pushed the call button for the elevator. "We haven't even had dinner yet and the kids are still awake. But, I promise you'll get your dessert." The elevator car arrived and Bruce shuffled in, pulling Tony with him. He pushed Tony into the wall and kissed him passionately, hand in his hair and pushing his knee between Tony's legs.
"Can I have a pre-dinner-dessert then?" Tony grinned. Bruce looked back at the numbers flying by, biting his lip. As much as he just wanted to grope and manhandle Tony right there, he didn't want to surprise anyone when they arrived at the penthouse.
"You're just going to have to wait," Bruce whispered into Tony's ear, rubbing his knee into Tony's crotch briefly and then moved away from him, allowing Tony to recompose himself before they got to the top.
"Do I have too?" Tony whined. The elevator dinged and the doors opened and Bruce motioned to the three males standing at the doors, waiting for them.
"Yeah, you do," Bruce said, smirking. He walked out of the car, pulling Tony with him. They quickly shed their coats and gloves, handing them to Alfred who took them to the closet.
Tony sighed and thanked Alfred for taking care of his coat and gloves before he followed Bruce like a lost puppy. Normally Tony would've gone off exploring the penthouse but it seemed the man was quite attached to Bruce at this point and refused to leave him. Bruce took a hold of Tony's hand, guiding him to the kitchen where there was a silver tray with a few small mugs full of the eggnog Bruce had spoken of. He handed one to Tony, and waited for his reaction. Everyone who came to any of Bruce's functions during the Christmas season demanded Alfred's eggnog.
"Is this the famous eggnog?" Tony raised an eyebrow and sniffed the mug for a second.
"Yes," Bruce said as he sipped from his own mug. "He only makes it at Christmas time. And even then you have to either beg him to make it or be a guest. You saved me from having to beg."
"I wouldn't mind seeing you on your knees," Tony said slyly as he leaned closer to Bruce and kissed the man's lips briefly. Tony went to pull back and Bruce placed his mug down for a moment, grasping the sides of Tony's face to keep his lips there, kissing him slowly.
Bruce sighed and looked Tony in the eyes. "God, I missed you." Words he never really thought he'd say to Tony just a few months prior, but he really had grown attached. Tony made Bruce feel a way he never thought would actually ever happen for him. What was it? Complete?
"Mm, you're right, this is good eggnog," Tony sipped from the cup a second time, "and I suppose, I missed you too."
Bruce grinned, taking another sip. "So, on my knees, hm?" he asked, changing the subject back to the blatant flirting, not wanting to linger any more than was comfortable on the sap.
"Well, like I said, I wouldn't mind," Tony nodded.
"You're going to have to make up your mind," Bruce said, finishing his cup of eggnog and putting the mug down on the counter. "You mentioned wanting a pony to ride a few weeks ago. So which do you want more?" Bruce winked at Tony.
"All I want in the end is waking up next to you," Tony admitted, suddenly showing pure seriousness in his face but that only made Bruce love him even more.
Bruce sighed. "We're going to need to do something about you living so far from Gotham," he said. "These spending a month or two away from each other at one time is going to start to get old."
"I'm not moving from Malibu, took me years to get the house up there," Tony put down the empty mug of eggnog and grabbed another one.
"Hmm..." Bruce breathed, placing his palms flat on the counter top, leaning on it. Not quite the answer he wanted from Tony, but it was the answer he expected. Bruce wasn't going to offer to move either, his place was in Gotham -- the place he was born and the city he had sworn to protect. He looked over at Tony and just offered him a simple smile. He'd just have to live with things the way they were.
"Besides, things are good now. Distance makes the heart grow fonder or something like that?"
"Yeah..." Bruce replied, taking another mug from the tray. "Something like that." He cleared his throat a few seconds later. "Your packages arrived yesterday. The presents for the boys. Didn't I tell you not to go overboard?"
"I didn't," Tony said innocently, "trust me, I tried not to spend too much money." Somehow, Bruce didn't believe him. Alfred walked into the kitchen, wiping his hands on a dishrag.
"Master Wayne and Master Stark, dinner is served," he said, motioning them to the table.
------
Bruce was woken up at seven in the morning by the sound of Alfred walking past the door, trailing Tim down the hall way. Bruce rolled over, snuggling his face into Tony's neck, who was still completely passed out from the night before, where he drank more than his fair share of eggnog and scotch. Bruce heard another set of footsteps past the door and he finally knew he needed to get up. He planted a kiss on Tony's shoulder and covered him with the rest of the blankets. He pulled on his sleep pants and robe and walked out of the room and down the hall to the living room.
Alfred was setting up breakfast and coffee while Dick and Tim were shaking presents under the huge tinseled Christmas tree. Bruce was glad to see Tim was getting a long so well with Dick and that the barriers he had built around himself over the last month were starting to crack. Bruce sat down in his reclining chair, watching the boys. Alfred walked up to him and placed a piping hot mug of coffee into his hands.
"Thanks, Alfred," Bruce murmured, still trying to wake up completely.
"Is Master Stark still sleeping?" Alfred asked, a second cup in his hands.
"Yes," Bruce answered sipping his cup. "Hopefully he'll be up soon. He'll want that coffee, I know that much." Alfred nodded and went to finish baking the cinnamon rolls. Bruce watched the boys a little longer, some time had passed, and he started to grow impatient with Tony as well. Hadn't he told him not to drink so much? Not that he could complain much, the wild night of sex it lead to was quite worth it.
"Bruce? Can we open our presents yet? I mean, they're tempting and calling out to us!" Tim pleaded, looking with big eyes at Bruce who shook his head.
"You can wait a little longer," Bruce replied. Tim folded his arms over his chest and glared at the hallway, knowing that they were having to wait for Tony. Dick put a hand on Tim's shoulder, possibly to calm him.
"But I don't want to wait!"
Bruce rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger; why did he agree to take in these kids again? Oh, right pity and thinking he could help. He sighed. "Look, five minutes. If, uh, Tony isn't up by then you two can start with the gifts from Alfred and I."
"We all know Stark'll sleep through a fire if he felt like it," Dick muttered, "can't we go and wake him up to spare us the trouble of actually waiting?"
"Now don't be silly, Master Richard," Alfred smiled, "I'm sure Master Stark will be up soon once he realizes what day it is."
Tim pouted and laid down on the carpet, waiting to hear the footsteps of Tony coming closer to the living room but it was to no avail. The only footsteps Tim heard right now belonged to Alfred and the man wasn't going to sit down anytime soon. Dick sighed and stood up, getting himself another cup of coffee and briefly muttering to Bruce that if Tony wasn't up in five minutes, he was going to literally shake the man out of his rouse. Bruce glared at Dick and then shook his head amused.
Alfred brought Tim a cup of hot chocolate, which only made the teen frown more since he knew that they were just trying to take his mind off presents. Bruce really just wanted to see the kid smile again and thought that the last month he made some progress with him. He hoped Christmas wasn't a downfall. Bruce leaned back in his chair to check down the hall way hoping that Tony would be coming down. Alfred had walked over to the stereo system and fiddled around with the system, putting on some Christmas music to occupy everyone.
"Bruce? Have you met the French? My god they know how to party," Tony stumbled in, giggling a bit as he scratched his hair in even a bigger mess than it already was.
Bruce raised an eyebrow at Tony. "I know quite a few French..." Not quite sure where that had come from or why Tony was bringing it up.
"Did you know? They didn't even know what a banana daiquiri was. Always bring a banana to a party Bruce," Tony grinned, pulling the man up and kissing him, "banana's are good," Tony grinned sly and groped Bruce in his groin, thankfully out of sight of Alfred, Tim and Dick.
"I'll, uh, try to remember that," Bruce said, kissing Tony quickly on the lips before firmly planting the, obviously still tipsy, man on the couch. Tim was already scrambling for presents and Alfred handed Bruce another cup of coffee to hand to Tony.
"Coffee! Drink of the gods, thank you, Alfred," Tony smiled groggily, the moment of excitement vanished from his eyes as he rubbed his temple. Bruce sat down next to Tony, kissing his cheek before giving Tim and Dick the go ahead to start shelling out the presents.
Tony smiled at the sight of a young adult and teenager opening presents and thanking Tony with big eyes and grins. Bruce watched as the boys opened every gift from Tony, items from a new game system with games to go with it, including something called Rockband, which Bruce had never heard of -- one present however, made Dick pause, stand up and walk up towards Tony with a frown on his face.
"Whatever is this supposed to be?"
"It's my little black book," Tony smirked, "use it wisely."
Dick had a giddy little look on his face as he sat down on the floor and starting skimming the names and number. Bruce looked at Tony in annoyance. "Really, Tony?"
"Eh, don't need it anymore, and be glad I didn't give it to Tim," Tony looked sort of pleased by Dick's reaction, "I got you, don't got the need for any of those girls now. Dick will use it wisely I'm sure."
Though Bruce wanted to be more annoyed, he couldn't bring himself to be mad at Tony after an answer like that. "Yeah, he's a good kid."
Tim had started in on the second round of presents, slightly smaller and less of them, ones from Bruce. Tim and Dick opened matching ones and then stared at Bruce with big frowns on their faces. "Bruce, what is this?" Dick asked, holding up the book.
"It's a book on survival. You could both use to read it and learn something," Bruce said, not even blinking.
"You are so boring," Tony muttered.
"What?" Bruce asked, looking a bit offended. "Some of us aren't born geniuses and require some training to actually escape near death. In the line of work Dick is just now getting into, he's going to be happy to have read that when something awful happens."
"Trust me, Bruce, those books are rubbish."
"Would you prefer that I take them out for survival lessons? I can do the exact training I went through in Tibet to them. It just means I'll be gone for seven years..."
"Psht, can't you just do that here in Gotham? I mean, you got the money," Tony pouted. Bruce shook his head, ignoring Tony's comment all together. The boys had ripped open the last of the gifts, new clothes and other video games from Alfred, and Bruce knew that he'd be on the least liked list for Christmases from then on out. He open the side table drawer next to the couch and pulled out a small red and gold wrapped package and handed it to Tony.
"I know we said we weren't going to buy anything for each other, but..." Bruce said, shrugging, not bothering to continue.
"Oh hush you, you'd really think I'd keep to your rules?" Tony raised an eyebrow before throwing a black package to Bruce, "have that from me okay?"
Tony opened the present Bruce gave him and frowned when he saw it was a miniature car. One of those special collectible ones, but more specifically, the one Bruce crashed a few weeks back. Tony stared at it for a while and then chuckled, shaking his head and pulling Bruce in a kiss, telling the man he loved it.
"I knew you wouldn't accept a real one, so this had to do," Bruce said, smiling. He looked down at the package Tony threw at him and tore open the black wrapping. Bruce opened the box and inside was a little robotic looking bat figure with what looked to be a tiny arc reactor in its chest. Bruce held it in his hand and looked at Tony, confused. "Uhm..."
"I was bored," Tony looked at his nails, a tiny smile on his lips.
Bruce smirked. "You're never bored," he said, knowing that Tony had probably put a lot of thought into this and was making excuses. Bruce kissed him. "Thank you, I do love it."
"Just don't crash it," Tony smiled in the kiss, "knowing you. Although, it is voice controlled and only by your voice so you'd actually have to command it to fly in a wall to crash it but knowing you."
"I won't crash it," Bruce promised. "I don't actually crash everything, you know."
"Oh no, course not," Tony said, amused, "just cars eh?"
"It's usually on purpose. The only time I crashed a car and it was an actually accident was the other week..." Bruce trailed off, not really wanted to remember that. "Anyway, I'm glad you decided to come stay for the holidays... I'd have hated to see you spend them alone."
Tony smiled sadly and ruffled Bruce's hair, "I would've just ended up going to a club anyway, you know me Bruce, never sitting still."
Bruce cupped Tony's chin with his hand and kissed him again. "Like I said, glad you decided to spend it with us." And not having to worry that Tony was getting drunk at a club.
"Eeew," Tim scrunched up his nose and then winked at Dick who couldn't help but grin and shake his head.
"Don't you two have new video games to go play with?" Bruce asked, pulling back from Tony and resting back against the couch.
"You mean we don't have to sit here and read this awful books to bought us?" Dick asked, getting to his feet. Tim was right behind him with the new Wii Tony bought them.
"No, go have fun. It's Christmas," Bruce muttered, waving them off.
Tony grinned and gave the kids some pointers on how to play the game best, having experience apparently, before waving them off and accepting another cup of coffee from Alfred. Bruce threw his arm over the back of the couch just above Tony, sipping his own new cup of coffee and enjoying the quiet and closeness with the man next to him. Alfred was cleaning up the wrapping mess and trailing after the boys to clean up after themselves.
"By the way," Tony snuggled into Bruce, "I haven't told you this yet but Maya is in jail now."
Bruce furrowed his brow, trying to remember who Maya was. Oh, right that was his friend who was working on the Extremis project Tony mentioned a month or so back. "What happened?"
"She and her boss stole one of the Extremis doses and gave it to a terrorist who apparently survived. Even I wasn't fast enough to stop him," Tony sighed.
"That's unfortunate," Bruce sighed, wondering if he should be worried that Tony didn't tell him this sooner -- when had it happened?
Tony winced and sat up, stroking Bruce's cheek, "I had to take the risk, you do know that don't you?"
Bruce tipped his head slightly, confused and a bit panicked. "What are you talking about, Tony?" He was sure there was something else there Tony wasn't telling him...
"Maya warned me about the consequences, I altered it, removed a few fail-safe points, I knew there was only a 3% survival chance but Bruce, I had to risk it."
Bruce pulled away from Tony, folding his arms over his chest. "Wait. Just wait," he said, his throat feeling as if it were closing up on him, harder to breathe. "You injected it into yourself? And you didn't think to at least tell me or warn me.... something? You were just going to wait and see if you died or not?"
"I was already dying Bruce, I didn't have time," Tony looked away.
Bruce didn't answer, he simply stood from the couch and started to pace the room, hands on his head nervously. It was over, Tony had already done it and he was alive; that should have been enough for Bruce, but yet it didn't feel like enough at all. Exactly what did this make Tony? Super human?
"Bruce, you got to know, I had to risk it. If I didn't, I would've died from my internal injuries eventually. I didn't have time to consult anyone. I made up my mind and did it, but you were on my mind every step of the way, you must know that."
"I know," Bruce said as he finally stopped pacing, looking out the large glass windows at the snowy streets of Gotham.
"This arc reactor isn't real Bruce," Tony stood up and walked over towards Bruce, holding the fake arc reactor in his hand, he had gotten it out just before leaving his room to join Bruce, "Extremis healed me, I'm all right."
Bruce looked at the fake reactor in Tony's hands and then back at Tony. "What does this change?"
"Nothing," Tony whispered, taking Bruce's hand in his and stroking it with his thumb, "it changes nothing between us."
"That's not quite what I meant," Bruce said using the same tone Tony had. He brought up his free hand and let his finger tips glide over the spot in Tony's chest where the reactor used to be. "What changes with you?"
"I removed Maya's stuff, put in some of my own. No one else but me can now use the suit, it's embedded in my bones, now I can use a lighter version of my armor and move faster. Oh and I also see through satellites, there is one exactly above your penthouse and trust me, it's so handy if I'm feeling lonely and want to spy on you," Tony smiled, trying to put a little humor in the situation, "my body also heals itself faster than normal human beings, oh and I don't get sick."
"Almost immortal," Bruce mumbled, dropping his hands to his sides. He was happy, beyond happy for Tony, but it left himself feeling rather... weak.
"I can die," Tony smiled, "trust me, I can, I still got a beating heart that can be stopped. Extremis enhancement speeds up a person's repair process and hence the body's cells died and regenerated at a faster rate. That's all. I can die Bruce."
"Let's..." Bruce sighed, forcing a smile," let's not think about that."
Tony stroked Bruce's cheek and kissed the man, "I'm still me, but if you need time or don't want to continue...us, I wouldn't hold it against you."
Bruce wrapped his arms around Tony's waist and pulled him closer. "Why would you think that?" He pressed his forehead against Tony's. "I've worked too hard to get you where I want you," Bruce teased a bit.
"I don't know," Tony scrunched up his nose, "I shouldn't have kept this from you. I just didn't feel like calling you and going 'hey Bruce, guess what? I was dying and took a life threatening virus that could've killed me but I'm alive now and oh have I mentioned I see through satellites now and just thinking this? I don't even need a cellphone anymore', it wouldn't have been a good way to tell you."
"No, not really," Bruce agreed. "I'm glad you're alright and I'm grateful you aren't dead, at least."
"You don't get rid of me that easily," Tony smiled, kissing Bruce again.