fossilised | it's a new plot!

Wow.

Okay, that was a lot to take in, and Tony told it in a surprisingly coherent way. He could see how something like legislation could easily get out of hand, and he doesn't think that it would be helpful to say that he probably would have sided with Steve and refused to sign. He would never give the Hulk's power over to someone else to control, it was far too dangerous for that.

He sat in silence for a few minutes and chewed as he processed, before deciding which bit of that to address first. Maybe the most personal, since it was obviously what would be hurting Tony the most.

"I'm sorry about your Dad," he said. Surprised, too, though he didn't say that. "I know that you looked up to him, despite the relationship that you had, and it can't have been easy finding out that he was HYDRA. Is that another reason that you've stayed away? Have people been giving you a hard time about your father's loyalties?"

“I’d like you to keep it between us, actually.” He did not worry about his reputation so much as he did about the state of his company. He employed thousands of people and while he might be able to work Stark Industries off of his own funds for awhile, people would have to go. He’d likely never be trusted again and the audits people might do on him could turn up the Soldier’s role in his growing up, and he wanted that a secret too. “I haven’t told anyone.”

And that wasn’t a lie. James told him. Banner was the first person he’d come clean to since finding out about that little gem.

“It’s all right if you don’t trust me. HYDRA stopped trusting dad along the way too. They had him killed. My mom too. The Winter Soldier did it so… Well I got pissed off at that before I understood the whys and the hows. But that’s over now. I got Rogers pulled off of the traitor list so… He’s probably back. Or will be. I uh… Things aren’t really great between us. Worse than they usually are. Were.” He set his fork down and looked up, the sadness there something he had trouble controlling. If he knew my dad was… I don’t think that I want him to ever find out. How’s the paneer and the curry?”

"I trust you."

That was the first thing that needed to be said, before anything else. Bruce wasn't exactly a shining example of emotional maturity sometimes, but he was more mature than Tony and it was odd how such an intelligent man could come across like such a child sometimes. So desperate for approval, and so transparently attached to people he claimed not to be.

Bruce always saw through him.

"I never stopped trusting you, even after Ultron, that's not why I left. And I bet it's why Steve wants you back. Because you tried to do the right thing, and I'll always trust a man who wants to try and do that. Even if the execution went wrong, the intention was good."

Now, that said, he could move onto the other points.

"I won't tell anyone about your father, but I would wager that the others would be understanding if you trusted them with it. As for the Winter Soldier, if he was a victim and you were mistaken, well... that's an easy mistake to make considering what you found out. I bet he and Steve would both forgive you."

Two people in one night said that they trusted him. To anyone else, it would be a given and something to shrug off. So, outwardly, Tony did. Inside, it settled warmly in his chest. Dinner turned into something that felt real, like more than just Indian take-out between two friends at a tiny table.

Gotta run back real quick or they’ll catch you. Christ. It had been so quiet that Tony forgot about the peanut gallery. Kiss him in the stairwell.

Well that made Tony pick up his fork again real fast and he noisily shoveled too much food into his mouth, eyes downcast. Bruce would probably think he was embarrassed. And he was. But for a very different reason. Unfortunately, silence wasn’t really a sustainable thing between them and after another shrug and some water, Tony continued. “Of course he’ll forgive me.” Steve, he meant. James was a different story, they had history. “That’s what he does. If there’s any way to respond to a situation perfectly, Rogers’ got it in hand. I don’t need him to forgive him. I’m not sorry about what I did… But I didn’t want him to have to go. I don’t really want anyone to go, but you’re all adults. You have your own choices to make.”

Tony tapped the back of his fork against his plate.

“Why did you leave anyway?”

"It's complicated."

Bruce's expression shifted into something guiltier, something sadder, and he set down his fork for now. He was still hungry, but it felt disrespectful to be talking about Natasha and the wrong that he had done to her while stuffing food into his mouth.

"Natasha and I-- I cared for her and I think she started to care for me too, it was too dangerous. I saw what I could do again in Sokovia, and I had to go. I didn't exactly mean for it to be for two years or into space, I just wanted to get my head together before we spoke again."

And they'd have to speak now that he was back. God only knew what he'd say to her, it tore him up inside to know how much he must have hurt her.

Tony didn’t have that small piece of information about how Natasha had chosen the Hulk over Banner, so he could just shake his head at Bruce, judging him just a little. “It’s always about a girl,” he said, feeling a pang of jealous that he venomously pushed away. He was not jealous. He didn’t like where the whispers were goading him into feeling right now either, and he told them internally to shut the hell up because he was having a nice night out with another adult, not some childish, taunting whispers that seemed poised to ruin his evening.

Tony wiped his mouth and shrugged.

“Told Rogers I’d meet him back at HQ tomorrow. So you have a few hours to figure out what to say to Romanoff. Can’t help you with that one, buddy. I’m stepping back from relationship advice. I’m bad at it myself.” Not that Bruce asked him. And not that Tony wouldn’t give him advice anyway. “Maybe you’ll be in luck and she aged really horribly since the last time you saw her?” That was pretty telling, wasn’t it? Tony had kept away from the team for a long time.

Bruce didn't want to hand over that small, but crucial, piece of the puzzle to anyone. Not even Tony. He did trust the other man, but Tony was a man of impetuous emotion and he would likely make an enemy of Natasha for that perceived betrayal. It still hurt him to think about, though he understood why she had done it, but he had known then that they couldn't ever be together the way they had talked about.

He swallowed hard, eyes sad, before he forced a small smile to his lips and started to eat once more. He would focus on one thing at a time, and that thing right now was Tony.

"I'm glad you said that you'd go tomorrow. You were what convinced me to join the Avengers, I don't think I could be in the team if you weren't there."

“If I don’t go, he’s coming here,” Tony grunted. He wasn’t hungry anymore, even though he’d barely eaten. What he wanted was something to drink to soothe the pulse of jealousy in his skull, but he promised not to just three hours ago. He wasn’t s great man. But he really shouldn’t go back on his word already. Not when James needed him to make up the other half of his so called humanity. He was barking up the wrong tree on that one, too. Tony was too removed for humanity to let himself be that again.

It would take a lot of convincing for him to believe otherwise.

“At least I can leave there any time I want,” Tony pointed out. “But I can’t... I don’t know if I’m coming out of retirement. I can help out, but I have some other responsibilities to work on first. And let’s face it. Stuff always ran smoother when I just came in for support. Let the kids take it from here.”

"I'm not going to force you to do something you don't want to do, your life should be your own to do what you want with, but-- I can't deny that this worries me. I know you, Tony, and the thrill of the Iron Man suit, being part of that team, it's important to you."

He set down his fork and gave Tony a knowing look.

"I don't want to see you make a recluse of yourself, with only your guilt and demons for company. Trust me, I've tried it, it's not fun. I know you've made mistakes, but we all have, isn't the Avengers partially about making up for that?"

“Probably, in a way yes, but it’s also important to know when to step aside and hand over the torch. Dropping everything to get up and go cost me Pepper. I know this probably sounds shallow, but she stayed with me for seven years, even before I knew her actual first name when she was just getting me coffee. I don’t have that anymore and that sucks, okay, I said it. It sucks a lot more than I thought it was going to suck. I get the doing it for the greater good thing but I want to have.... something. More.”

Fat chance of that since he was certifiably crazy and no one but James and Pepper had ever known about the voices. Pepper thought it was just the price of genius.

He wasn’t rain man, this was better, but it could still be debilitating.

No. Not could. Was.

“More people join this team all the time. It’s like the revolving doors of Menudo. I don’t know them. I don’t want to know them. I like being Iron Man, don’t get me wrong. Everything I said about me and the armor being one? That stands. But I don’t trust other people with me. I want to only be responsible for myself. No more getting people hurt when I fuck up.”

That was a philosophy that Bruce understood. His was a life of not wanting to have responsibility for others because of how dangerous he could be, and how unreliable that could make him when it came to needing to being around. So he couldn't condemn Tony's want to be solitary too much, though he worried about it a lot.

"Alright, so what are you doing with your time, if not the Avengers?"

He hoped that this meant that Tony had thrown his all into his business. He could do such good if he just tried. Stark Industries, if Tony took it in that direction, could provide clean water and energy, could advance the technology of bionic limbs for amputees, could do so much that other companies couldn't because of the genius at its heart.

“I have a billion dollar tech company with my name on it, Banner.” Tony wasn’t pulling punches here and he was not going to talk about James. Not even to someone with whom he just inadvertently had a take out version of a first date with a future husband’s double. He liked Bruce. He really did. But James came back, after decades, came back and still trusted him.

And Tony wasn’t going to let that go.

“Don’t base your plans on me, please. The world needs you. Don’t go back to Asgard. Or some other place. Don’t be best friends with Thor.” He wasn’t even being jealous here, but he was pleading. “I could use you being around.”

James’ conversations with him were always about not pushing people away. He meant Steve but tony thought Steve to be a lost cause here. Banner was not.

Banner had come back too, after all.

Bruce just thought for a few moments on how best to phrase his response, because he did need to tell Tony why that couldn't be, but he needed to do it in a way that conveyed just how much what the other man had done for him meant.

"Ever since I did this to myself everyone has been afraid of me. I can't blame them, it's natural, but even the kindest of people have had that fear behind their eyes. You never did. You were the one that convinced me that not only my ability with gamma rays was needed, but also that I could "stand tall" and be of help in other ways. Without you, Tony, there would be no Hulk in the Avengers, and I don't know if I could continue on without that."

He said it kindly, he wasn't attempting to guilt Tony if he really had made up his mind o be a businessman rather than a superhero, but it was the truth and it needed to be said.

“What’s the plan then?” Maybe it was too soon to ask that, though. Bruce had been the Hulk for a long time. He had no idea what happened since he was gone. And the whole thing with the Avengers was rocky to begin with. “Join the jet set? Travel the world?” The thought was amusing. Bruce Banner in white suits traveling around touring countries and drinking fine wines by the pool. That had been Tony’s life, off and on. “Might be relaxing.”

He just wanted to hold onto something. James gave him his taste back for friendship and had made him realize how desperate he had been for it.

“Or if you want academic stimulation, we could work together on something. Collaborate. No more murder bot babies, I promise,” he said, trying to come off as being nonchalant when really he was desperate for Bruce to agree.

Even if they only saw each other on occasion, it was better than not seeing each other at all.

“You don’t have to go back to being a doctor in the middle of nowhere, Banner. It was cute for half a decade. But we need you.”

Bruce hummed without giving any promises either way, he didn't particularly want to run off back to the middle of nowhere, but he knew that sometimes life was full of having to do things that he would rather not do for the sake of the greater good. If the Hulk was in danger of taking control for good, then he might have to make an effort to be isolated and calm to stop that from happening.

"How about we both go to this meeting tomorrow and then make our decisions? We might find that Steve is hard to say no to and we both end up back on the team again."

He suspected that might happen. Tony was the sort of person who could be won over with genuine friendship and, no matter how much he claimed to hate Steve, he cared and the other man was definitely genuine.

"Can we make a deal on that?"

With an annoyed look, and a roll of his eyes, Tony loudly banged his elbow on the table and extended his pinkie towards Bruce. He saw that little smile of him and found himself thinking about standing on a beach with him, making that same smile, with a porthole of some machine between them. He had no context for it and so the not quite memory (daydream then) was wholly pleasant.

“Pinkie swear. Meeting tomorrow and then we can both tell Rogers to fuck off because we have important science to do.” Tony couldn’t exactly order Bruce around but he could be domineering and brattish and he wasn’t going to apologize for that.

Leaving James alone for an entire day might not be a great idea, but he had decorating to do and he didn’t need Tony around him constantly. The guy probably was desperate to have a little alone time anyway.

That didn’t exactly make him feel great about Loki wandering around though. At least the thought of him didn’t trigger the voices back in that direction.

Bruce had no idea as to the added stresses that went on inside Tony's head, he never could have imagined that his friend had the voices of thousands of lifetimes whispering to him almost constantly. He would have been exceptionally worried if he had, and tried to convince Tony to go to seek professional help, because voices were never a good sign.

He had no idea that James Barnes was here either, and it was probably for the best because he wasn't as good at lying as Tony and probably wouldn't have been able to hide it from Steve tomorrow. He set his elbow down on the table and held out his own pinkie, but didn't take Tony's yet.

"No, we pinkie swear to go and give the meeting a fair hearing. We don't make up our minds before we hear everything that's been said."

Yes, there went the eye roll again before Tony hooked his finger around Bruce’s. “Sold, to the guy with the guy with the curry. We’ll listen to Rogers and decide objectively what to do.”

The touch didn’t linger. Tony went back to eating just after and stayed maybe a smidge too long when he finally noticed Banner yawning with near exaggeration. He agreed to meet him tomorrow around ten and they’d drive up together. Tony had a new Audi he wanted to show off anyway.

Asking where James was, and getting the answer that he was measuring his room and looking through online cataloged, Tony decided to head to bed. For once, he wasn’t even thinking about a drink, though the soft rustle of memories kept him awake for a little while longer.

His dreams were not pleasant, but at least they were his own. The void. Space. The fall. Just standard nightmares, the unfortunate happenstance of not having alcohol to help him pass out.

At least he wouldn't be allowed to sleep for too long, which might be a blessing considering his nightmares, though less of a blessing considering how little he slept on any given week. By rights, with the amount he put his body through, he probably should have been dead years ago.

"Sir," said FRIDAY, making the lights come up in his bedroom at the same time to assist in waking him. "I tracked James to the roof the building approximately fifteen minutes ago, but lost visual when he dropped off the side."

She didn't want to say that he might want to look for a smushed body at the base of the Tower, but all probability algorithms suggested that would be the case. The Tower was mostly made of smooth glass and metal struts, no place for hand holds or foot holds, and she hadn't witnessed any parachuting gear.

The AI was not a genius with a multitude of lifetimes of knowledge bombarding her at all times. Tony woke with a groan and sat up slowly. “Let’s even the sidewalk and run back Veronica in the infrared to see if anything in stealth mode hovered over the Tower tonight—. And after that, run a self diagnostic on why it took you fifteen minutes to tell me,” Tony grunted, rolling out of bed.

He didn’t think FRIDAY would find anything, no smear of former Nanny below, no quintet in stealth mode above.

He had a feeling that this was all Loki. He’d promised to find James. Tony just needed to make sure that nothing happened to him after that and he dressed in soft black pants and a t-shirt to head up to the room himself for a look.

Was he terrified? Absolutely. Loki didn’t sit right with him.

The scan only took a few moments due to FRIDAY's advanced technology, and it wasn't long after that before she reported that there was no sign of James or any sort of vessel that could contain James, either above the Tower or at the base. There would also be no signs of a struggle or of Loki when Tony made it to the roof.

But if he stood on the very edge and looked all the way down, he would see an impossibility. James hanging from the side of the building about three storeys down, his hand flat to the side of the building and the toes of his boots pressed against smooth glass as if that were a perfectly normal handhold.

All of Tony’s genius couldn’t have anticipated seeing that. He crouched st the edge of the roof, unafraid if heights, and tried to process what he was seeing.

“James? No offense, but what are you doing?” Could there be some sort of electromagnetic current that allowed the man to cling to buildings? That was pretty impressive. Likely a precursor to the arc reactor technology his father spent his last few years working on.

He tried to figure out where he’d be, mentally, able to peek into from that vantage point. The Tower was completely part of his mind and he knew the layout from every angle. It had to be the Tower, too. No other buildings in south Manhattan came close. Unless Bucky had telescopic eyes too but Tony would have seen that when in his head.

The Soldier would never have allowed anyone to sneak up on him this way. He should have been attuned to the noise of shoes on the roof, but he hadn't even heard the conversations between Tony and his AI, lost in thought as he peered through the window. Tony might be able to work out that the window he was looking through was one of the many gyms in the Tower, not really a used one these days.

He jerked when Tony addressed him and nearly fell. He only just caught himself and then scrambled up the side of the Tower as easily as if he had been walking on solid ground, flipping over the edge and coming to rest beside the other man.

"I was just thinking, I like to be alone when I think."

Bucky was nothing short of impressive. Tony smirked to show that he thought so without having to open his mouth on the subject. Just as he preferred. There was a unique vulnerability to that. One he didn’t care to have.

Tony shifted so that his feet dangled off the edge of the building. The wind ho here was guarded by the shape of the building from below and that alone was the only reason he wasn’t being blown around. “What were you thinking about? If you want to join a gym? Because you can have that one free of charge. No one ever uses it anymore.”

It was Steve’s. He used to kill punching bags on the regular there. But Tony was pretty sure that James sensed that already.

“If you want to hang off of buildings to think, you can. FRIDAY just couldn’t detect you over the side and she’s a little like a mother hen. She thought you jumped.” And so had Tony for a hot minute. “Don’t jump. There’s so much to live for. You have me again, remember,” he teased.

"I wasn't going to jump."

Bucky shifted to sit next to Tony, similarly not bothered by how high they were up and how it could be just one wrong move and both of them would be killed. A big part of why he wasn't eating a bullet right now was Tony, someone he trusted who gave him hope that he could carry on and find a new path.

"This is the weak spot in your security system, it's how got in and out before. I liked to know that not even your AI knew where I was. But-- yeah, I'd like to use that gym."

He canted his head, a tiny smile at his lips.

"Did you know that FRIDAY helped me order a huge bed. I never even knew beds came that big."

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tiny phone tags why are monday so busy?

Especially when we hardly had time yesterday!

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