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Bruce walked out of his room, removing his glasses to rub his tired eyes. It was four in the morning and Tony still hadn't come to bed. By now, he knew that meant that Tony had locked himself in his lab. He might have gotten buried in a mountain of empty energy drink cans like that incident from a few months ago. He had gotten caught under a landslide of his own creation and had needed to ask JARVIS to activate one of the suits to dig him out. Clint, child that he was, still made fun of Tony for it.
When he arrived down at Tony's lab, he typed in his personal pass code and entered the spacious room, only to find the genius inventor to be nowhere in sight. He sighed and turned around to leave, hoping that he wasn't out partying again, only to come face to face with a very large, slightly pointed object that had dropped from the ceiling shortly after his arrival. "Give up, Tony. It's not going to work." He called out. This was the most pathetic attempt yet. The playboy had to be around here somewhere for that trick to have happened.
Sure enough, he heard Tony's distinctive voice coming out from behind his workbench. "I thought that one would work for sure." Bruce sighed and smiled just slightly. "A childish trick like that would hardly startle Clint, let alone frighten me enough to make me transform." Tony slunk out from his hiding place, pouting because he had been discovered.
Bruce's stern expression softened when he saw what state Tony was in. The horrible attempt at making the Other Guy come out was now completely understandable. "Honey, please come to bed. You look like hell." Bruce gently took his lover by the hand and led him out of the lab and back to their room. Tony rarely slept unless Bruce or one of the other Avengers made him. On their way back, they passed the rooms of the other Avengers. Signs of life could be heard from Steve and Bucky's room, both of them incredibly early risers due to their long-ago army training.
Once they got back to their room, Bruce gave Tony a quick kiss. "You are going to bed now." Tony opened his mouth to complain. Bruce cut him off. "I don't want to hear any protests. You are also going to take it easy today. You are not allowed in the lab, and you are not allowed near the bar." As he was talking, Bruce slowly got Tony ready for bed as he would have with a small child. "There will be no picking fights with Loki today either. You haven't slept an entire night in how long? Three weeks? You need to sleep more than that. Caffeine and taurine can only get you so far. So you are on bed rest today. Doctor's orders." He laid his lover down on the bed. Tony was asleep within minutes.
When he was sure his voice wouldn't wake go the sleep-deprived man, Bruce gave JARVIS a request. "I know that you primarily only listen to Tony, but can you please make sure he can't get in the lab today? He needs his rest." JARVIS, ever helpful, replied with, "Of course. Master Stark's health is important to me as well." Bruce nodded, relieved. He looked at the time; 4:37. Yawning, he climbed into bed next to his sleeping partner. It was far too early to be awake.
Bruce awoke a few hours later to find Tony still sleeping next to him. He smiled and kissed the inventor on his cheek, mindful to not wake him up,before getting out of bed and padding out to the kitchen. If this was going to be a lazy day for his lover, then he was going to make sure it started out with a proper breakfast in bed. Arriving in the kitchen, he saw Thor screaming at the toaster to surrender his pop tarts. From the look on Loki's face, this had been going on for a while. One of the attempts to retrieve the frosted pastry musty have been what woke Bruce up. Calmly, he walked over to the toaster, pushed the up button, and walked away before he could be crushed in a Thor hug. The Other Guy didn't particularly enjoy Thor hugs or the feeling of being crushed. His walking to the other side of the kitchen didn't prevent Thor from yelling, "Many thanks for the aid, Man of Rage!"
Bruce quickly looked back, quelling a quiet rumble from the Hulk, knowing his eyes were faintly green. "Thor, please be more quiet. Tony is exhausted and is still resting. I would rather he didn't wake up for a while longer." Thor looked appropriately apologetic.
Natasha came out into the kitchen, already fully dressed for the day. "Too late for that. I heard him talking to JARVIS as I passed by." She walked over to the coffee maker, and got herself a cup of jet black brew. Bruce was nearly sure he saw her pull a flask out of who-knows-where and pour a little into the cup.
Bruce smiled. Talking to JARVIS did not necessarily mean that Tony was awake. Most people didn’t know that he had a tendency to talk to JARVIS in his sleep. It was cute, until he did it for an hour straight in the middle of the night. But it meant that he was potentially deeply asleep, so he couldn’t complain. “I’ll go check on him.” Bruce walked back to his and Tony’s room and quietly peeked in. He was greeted with one of the sweetest sights he had seen in years. Tony was curled up in their bed, mumbling quietly and hugging a pillow as if it were Bruce. Slowly, he closed the door and headed back out to the kitchen, a small smile on his face from the sight of his lover sleeping soundly.
He arrived back in the kitchen to see that most of the other Avengers were already up for breakfast. Thor was happily munching on his pop tarts and trying to get Loki to try some (he refused). Natasha was sitting at the counter drinking her spiked coffee while Clint had his face pressed to the cool surface next to her. Steve and Bucky were quietly making themselves breakfast on one side of the large stove. As he passed her, Bruce quietly told Natasha, “He’s thankfully still asleep.” She nodded, smiling slightly. All of the Avengers worried about Tony’s sleeping habits. His body wouldn’t last much longer if he continued to take such poor care of it.
A good way to start Tony’s lazy day would be a nice breakfast. During his travels, Bruce had learned many different cooking styles and skills. He decided that French would be the way to go for breakfast. After getting out a couple pans and a few mixing bowls, he moved to the other end of the stove from the two super soldiers. From the fridge, he got out eggs, cheese, onions, asparagus, smoked salmon, chives, and cream cheese. He grabbed potatoes and bagels on his way back to the stove. After starting a pot of water to boil, he began chopping up the potatoes for a potato and asparagus frittata. They would need to boil before the rest could be finished. Once the potatoes were almost done, he put the asparagus and onions into the pan to cook and soften. When they had, he dumped the par-boiled potatoes into the pan and poured a mixture of eggs and cheese over the top. Once the edges had set he popped the pan into the oven to finish while he made the rest of Tony’s breakfast. He mixed cream cheese with chopped chives and spread it onto one of the bagels before layering on smoked salmon and closing up the sandwich. By this point, the frittata was done. He pulled it out, sliced and plated a piece for Tony along with the bagel and a cup of coffee. Everything was loaded onto a tray and then he went to wake up his genius lover.
When the bedroom door opened, Bruce found himself looking at the sleepy inventor sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes. “Good morning, sleepyhead.” Bruce smiled at his adorable bedmate.
Tony looked at him with tired eyes. “Good morning, Bruce. When did I come to bed?” Bruce sighed inwardly. He figured this would happen. Tony was so tired last night that he couldn’t remember anything, yet he still didn’t come to bed on his own.
He sat on the edge of the bed and handed the French breakfast to Tony for him to start eating. “I went down to the lab and brought you to bed last night. After, I might add, encountering your worst attempt yet at making me transform.” Tony swallowed his bite of the bagel.
“What, pray tell, did I do?” He clearly had no idea of the level of stupidity he had reached last night.
“Let’s see.... You had a rather large rod pointed right at my eye when I turned around to leave the lab. It dropped down from the ceiling.” Tony spit out his food in disgust of the sheer level of terrible that he had reached last night.
“How the hell did I manage to delude myself into thinking that would work?!” He angrily said, cleaning up the mess that he made and taking a calming sip of coffee.
Bruce rubbed his back. “To be entirely fair, you’ve barely slept lately. Your brain doesn’t properly function when you’re tired, and you were absolutely exhausted.”
His partner rolled his eyes in disgust. “That doesn’t excuse me thinking that just something in your face would be enough. I know it takes more than that.” He stabbed his frittata in annoyance.
“Speaking of me transforming, what is your fascination with making me do it? You’ve seen the Other Guy in plenty of battles before. Why do you want him to come out here in the tower?” This exact question had been bugging Bruce for a while. If he was entirely honest with himself, he would admit that it had been bugging him since they first met and Tony had been trying to goad him into getting angry. The Other Guy actually liked Tony relatively well and didn’t want to come out either in his presence. But it can’t be helped if one or both of them gets angry or frightened enough.
Tony looked down and fidgeted under the covers. “To be honest, I don’t know any more. It used to be out of genuine curiosity, until the first time I saw the Hulk in person. Now I guess it’s almost a game; trying to figure out a way to get you to change.” He was wringing his hands under the tray where he thought Bruce couldn’t see.
Bruce gently put his hand under Tony’s chin and forced him to look into his eyes. “Tony, I love you. You know I do.” He looked vaguely shocked at his. He was fully aware that Bruce loved him, but he didn’t say it very often. “It’s because I love you that I want you to stop this game. I can’t control myself when the Other Guy is out, and I don’t want to risk hurting you. I need you to stop this foolish game for your own safety.”
Tony ducked his head. “Okay. I’ll stop. And thank you for breakfast, love.”
Bruce gave him a quick kiss. “I’m glad you like it. If you want, I’ll leave you alone to finish and come back in a little bit to get the tray.” He got up to leave only to be stopped by a gentle tug on his shirt. Tony was sitting there holding the hem of his shirt and looking like a petulant child. “What’s wrong, Tony?”
He blushed slightly. “Please don’t leave me.” Bruce smiled. While he was always selfish and arrogant, it was rare for Tony to act like this. He sat back down on the bed.
“I won’t leave if you don’t want me to.” He placed a tender kiss on the playboy’s forehead. “I’m yours, and I’ll do whatever you ask of me.” He quickly rethought that statement in all of it’s ambiguity and tacked on the statement, “Within reason.” That made Tony chuckle, because he knew exactly what just went through Bruce’s head. They sat in companionable silence while Tony finished his breakfast in bed. After it was done, Tony set the tray on the ground and drew the scientist in for a deep kiss. The tray was quickly forgotten as the two men were distracted by a more interesting pursuit.
When they later emerged, Bruce took the forgotten dishes back to the kitchen while Tony escaped without his notice. Faintly, he heard the rather distinctive voice of his beloved from an area sounding suspiciously like the lab. That meant that it was time for trouble. Bruce quickly rushed down to the entrance of the lab where he found Tony having an extremely frustrated, one-sided argument with JARVIS. When Tony spotted him, he was immediately caught in the crossfire. “Bruce! What the hell is this about not being allowed into my lab.”
He sighed deeply. Bruce wished with all his heart that Tony had remembered what he said last night. “I asked JARVIS to keep you out of the lab today.” Tony opened his mouth to protest, a similar situation to last night. Bruce once again cut him off. “No buts. You need to rest. You’ve been overworking yourself too much lately. In my professional opinion, you need a day away from the lab. As well as the bar.” Tony looked like a sulky child who didn’t want to listen even though there was nothing he could do about it.
Bruce knew quite well how Tony felt about a lack of productivity. Though his definition of being productive was rather broad to include drinking and partying into that category. Bruce ran his fingers through his lover’s hair to try and sooth him. “Think of today as being productive towards your health. That’s a rather important thing as well.” Tony still didn’t look too happy, but he realized that if Bruce didn’t want him in the lab, then there was no way he would get in the lab today. Especially considering that he had even managed to swing JARVIS, the A.I. that Tony created himself, into going along with this.
Tony stalked past Bruce to the main living room of Avenger’s tower, brushing past his lover in a way to let him know he wasn’t that angry. He followed Tony to the main room to find him trying (and succeeding in Thor’s case) to con their resident Norse gods into giving him the TV remote. Bruce walked in just in time to hear Loki say, “Call me Reindeer Games one more time, you foolish mortal, and I swear upon Odin’s grave that I will end your pathetic fleeting life.” Bruce sighed inwardly. Just because Loki was their ally now didn’t mean that everyone got along well. A quiet rumble from the Other Guy reminded him that some got along worse than others. The Other Guy still didn’t like or trust Loki, despite Bruce’s hesitant acceptance of his new allegiance.
Tony flopped himself down on the couch on the other end from Thor and Loki, motioning for Bruce to come join him. He quietly sat down next to Tony, who proceeded to curl up like a cat, with his head on Bruce’s legs. The inventor was being extra affectionate. Possibly due to hearing the three rarely-said words from Bruce this morning, or possibly because there wasn’t much else he could do. Nonetheless, it was nice to have Tony’s warm body close. Bruce sat, oddly peaceful as he ran his fingers through his lover’s hair. For once, even his constant anger seemed to be dampened in the wake of Tony’s cat-like affection.
The peace was echoed at the other end of the couch. Uncharacteristically, Thor was being quiet, likely due to some mystical effect of Loki. Bruce glanced over and then quickly looked back, blushing internally. Loki was keeping Thor quiet alright, using his own mouth. He went back to spoiling his own (already spoiled) lover with more affection.
The calm was unfortunately broken rather quickly by Clint and Natasha arriving back to the tower with lunch. Clint burst into the room in a style vaguely reminiscent of Thor, declaring that he had brought food for everyone. “Odin’s beard, who gave that child sugar?” Loki asked Natasha? She smiled at him slightly and shrugged. The Russian assassin got along rather well with the God of Mischief, despite the suffering that he caused her partner while under the control of the Chitauri.
Tony was roused from his pleasant nap by the scent of good Chinese takeout wafting from the bags carried by the duo. “Does anyone know where Steve and Bucky are?” Tony asked, rubbing his eyes (as was his waking habit) upon seeing that everyone else was here aside from them. Everyone answered negative. “JARVIS?” Tony asked.
The A.I. promptly responded. “Mr. Rogers and Mr. Barnes left two hours ago. They informed me that they were going on a date and would be back late.” Clint giggled like the child he was after JARVIS finished his report. Tony bolted up to kidnap some of the oriental takeout, while Bruce followed at a more reasonable pace.
After their lunch, the Avengers all hung out in the living room. Tiny had his head back on Bruce’s lap. “Bruce?” Tony said, in a voice that indicated he wanted something.
“What, Tony?” he asked, stroking his soft brown hair.
“Will you let me into the lab?” He asked, with the best impression of a puppy look that a grown man with a beard can pull off.
The slightest hit of a smile crossed the scientist’s face. “You’re supposed to rest today. I told you that. I’m not letting you in the lab.”
“But I want to work on stuff!” the scientist whined, flailing slightly.
“Then work on your health. Honey, your body won’t hold up much longer if you keep carrying on like you are. You need to take better care of yourself. The others are worried as well.” Tony looked up at the other Avengers in the room. His whining had drawn their attention. They all nodded in agreement with Bruce’s statement.
Natasha piped up. “You don’t have the best health to start with, Tony.” They all know exactly what she was talking about. The fragments in his chest. Tony looked appropriately abashed at their concern. He still wasn’t used to having to think about other people and actually having someone else to worry about him besides Pepper.
He scrunched up, trying to hide in Bruce’s lap. He was vaguely ashamed about his selfishness concerning his health, a feeling he wasn’t used to at all. “I’ll start taking care of myself....”
Bruce bent down and kissed his head. “Thank you.” He scratched Tony’s head. “I’m guessing you’re bored not being able to drink or go in the lab.” Tony nodded. Those were the two things he usually did, so aside from partying, he didn’t have much of an idea for things to do when he wasn’t allowed to do them. “How about we go out on a date? We haven’t done that in a long time.” Tony reluctantly agreed, and they went to their room to get ready. Bruce refused to tell him where they were going to go, answering only with an uncharacteristically sneaky smile.
It was late spring in New York, so luckily the weather was nice enough for the two men to just walk. For once it wasn’t raining or gusting, and the temperature was reasonable. Bruce led Tony along the sidewalks, the two of them garnering attention. Tony Stark drew attention everywhere he went, it was just a part of who he was, but Bruce wasn’t used to it. Not everyone recognized him as a member of the Avengers when he was in control, but that didn’t stop the public from putting two and two together as they walked along. Fortunately, most people stayed away, either because they didn’t want to bother them, or because they were afraid of Bruce. They managed to reach their destination without much trouble.
“You brought me to the zoo for a date?” Tony asked skeptically. Bruce just smiled. With how well he knew Tony, he could tell that the inventor was secretly delighted. Since he had been acting so childish today, Bruce figured that the zoo would be a good place to go. Sure enough, nearly as soon as they got inside, Tony ran off to find the polar bears. Bruce simply followed him, allowing the genius to take the lead. While Bruce liked the zoo, and truly loved animals, he had to be wary. Predators didn’t always like him if his emotions weren’t tightly controlled. They could smell that he was a monster and reacted accordingly if they thought he might pose a threat. He had learned this the hard way in Africa, in an incident involving a charging elephant.
Tony led them all over the zoo, until it was rather late. There had been a holdup at the penguin tank when Tony had tried to convince the zookeepers to sell a penguin to him, before Bruce reminded him that they didn’t have anywhere in the tower to keep a penguin. The playboy let it go for the time being, but Bruce could see that there would be a penguin in the tower in the near future. As long as it made Tony happy, be guessed that they could go along with it.
When they left the zoo, they made their way to a little Italian bistro that was famous for it’s food. They sat there to chat and feast and drink wine for almost two hours. Tony raised his glass towards the end of their meal. “A toast to my wonderful lover for taking me one the best dates I’ve ever had.” Bruce clinked his glass against Tony’s and leaned in for a quick kiss.
That was another reason why they had chosen this bistro. While the relationships of the Avengers were known to the media and public, Bruce was a rather private person and didn’t want pictures of him and Tony kissing or holding hands all over the world. Tony knew quite well that it wasn’t because Bruce was ashamed of their relationship; it was just because he thought that since it was their personal life, it out to be personal and not for the public to oogle over. They had chosen this bistro because it was small and out of the way enough that they would have as much privacy as Tony Stark could get.
They walked home hand-in-hand, despite Bruce’s usual reservations. He was happy, so for once he didn’t care. When they arrived back at the tower however, their mood radically shifted, to the point of Bruce almost Hulking out from shock. The top floor of the tower was in shambles. Most of the windows were broken, the furniture was overturned, there was a hole in the wall right under the TV, and in the center of the mess was Clint and Loki. “What the hell is going on?” Bruce roared, uncharacteristically loud. The fact that the Other Guy was so close to coming out influenced his volume, and all the Avengers could hear the Hulk in his voice. Tony glanced over to his lover to see green flashing in his eyes and creeping over his fingers. He was angry that the Avengers managed to destroy their own tower this badly, and the initial shock of finding the room destroyed compounded his emotions into a near catalyst for transformation.
Steve scrambled out over the rubble, ever helpful to try and explain to Bruce. “Well Loki decided to play a prank on us, nothing bad mind you, but Clint overreacted and attacked Loki so Loki defended himself, then Clint started firing arrows and Loki countered with magic, then Thor and Natasha got involved trying to break the two of them apart, but Thor’s hammer punched through the walls and broke that, and Bucky and I got back just in time to try and help break them up.” Steve’s entire explanation ran into one long sentence in his haste to get it all out and calm down the rage monster lurking inside of his friend. Tony also squeezed his hand gently in reassurance. Luckily, the faint green faded from his skin, though the green in his eyes remained for the time being. The three of them went to help break the two idiots apart. There was never a dull moment here in Avenger’s tower.