Chapter Text
Bruce isn’t really sure what he’s expecting when the doorbell rings at 1 pm on his day off but Alfred is in the garden and the door is right there so he answers it anyway. He’s not expecting Tony Stark in all his Brioni glory. Tony has been busy with his team falling apart and cleaning house after S.H.I.E.L.D turned out to be mostly Hydra agents and Bruce hadn't really expected to see him for a while. Not that he’s complaining, he and Tony go way back and his kids say he needs to spend more time with his friends anyway.
Unfortunately Bruce, being the observant detective that he is, notices quite a bit more than just his suit. Tony looks wrecked. The man won't make eye contact with Bruce, he’s pale, ghostly pale, and has most certainly lost more weight than is strictly healthy for a man of his stature. Immediately Bruce is worried. It’s never been like Tony to let himself go like this.
Bruce opens the door a little wider, schooling his worry and throwing on a smile before saying, “Tony, what a surprise, it’s always good to see you, come in please.” Tony finally looks up and Bruce takes in the dark circles under his eyes. Tony hasn’t been sleeping, which is not unusual, both of them have a tendency to forgo sleep when they get lost in a project, but when paired with that glassy look in his eyes Bruce knows that's not what's keeping him up.
Bruce hasn't seen Tony like this since he was dealing with the PTSD from New York.
He’s definitely worried.
Tony manages a small smile and slowly files into the entry and Bruce guides him through the house to the main sitting room. He’s not worried about being interrupted. Damian and Duke are the only ones in the house today and Duke has homework and Damian usually keeps to himself unless dragged from his room by another sibling.
Bruce is on high alert. He doesn't want to miss anything while trying to learn what could have caused his friend to look the way he does. Tony and Bruce had been friends since they were children as their parents spent a lot of time in the same high society circles so they saw each other frequently as kids and their friendship had started to become important to him.
Tony had come to him after he learned of the corruption in his company and when he made the decision to stop producing weapons of mass destruction and in turn Bruce had gone to Tony for help with the Justice League and other funding projects. He values their friendship and he knows it is rare for someone like them to ask for help and even if Tony has yet to outright ask, he knows Bruce well enough to know that that's exactly what he’ll do anyway.
Of course Bruce knows the jist of what has happened with the Avengers recently. Only slightly more then the general public because the accords were presented to the Justice League but because everyone on the JL’s roster maintains a secret identity the government hasn’t had the resources to come after them. Vigilantism was already illegal so there wasn't much more they could do about it for the time being. Not to mention the Watchtowers' existence sill being a secret to the general public.
But Bruce had been following the fallout of the accords amidst the Avengers as best he could the way he monitors most other heroes around the world, so he knows that losing most of his team is having an effect on his friend, as well as dealing with Colonel Rhodes' recovery, but he can’t help but think there’s something more to the state Tony is in right now.
He ushers Tony over to the couch and catches Alfred's eye as he comes in from the garden. This might be a tea conversation. Tony was silent for a long moment. And then another. Bruce cleared his throat.
“Not that I don’t like seeing you, it’s always good Tony, but is there a particular reason you're here today? I had assumed you would be busy with the fallout of the accords.”
Tony looks up, “Uh no actually there isn’t much fallout to deal with. The Avengers who signed are already integrated up at the facility and the others have been arrested or added to a manhunt set up by the government.” He looks away again, “I was actually hoping… Ah fuck Bruce I’m sorry for just showing up, but I was hoping I could stay here, uh in the manor, for a few weeks... until the manhunt is wrapped up.” he said that last part was so quiet Bruce almost wouldn’t have heard it if he hadn’t been listening and he filed that away for later.
“Of course Tony, I would love to have you stay with us for a while, I know Tim has been working on something you may be interested in. I’ll have Alfred make up a room for you.” Bruce noted that Tony visibly deflated and he wondered if Tony truly believed he would turn him away. Friends have come to Bruce for much harder requests than a place to stay.
The two sat in silence as Alfred brought in the tea and Bruce informed him Tony would be staying. He watched as the older man turned to go prepare the room then turned to Tony. Bruce had questions. Of course he did it’s what he does as a detective, but he could also see that Tony needed to rest, so he stood up and crossed the room.
Tony stood up too and Bruce reached out to grab his shoulder and guide him back to the door, but Tony flinched away. Huh. Strange, Tony has rarely shied from physical touch before. In fact, people would never have guessed but the man was quiet touchy with his closer friends. “I'm sorry” Tony says, looking at the ground.
“No, that's all right.” He throws on his Brucie smile. Batman should take the backseat on this one. “Let's get your things from the car shall we?”
Bruce filed the entire interaction away for later and went to help his friend.
The thing is, Bruce has never been good at letting Batman take the backseat. After Bruce helped Tony move his things to the room Alfred prepared he closed the door and hasn’t emerged since.
Bruce won’t push but he wasn’t lying when he said Tony looked bad. If Tony won’t give him answers he’ll find them himself. He won’t make Tony talk to him but he needs to understand a little bit more of the situation if he'll be able to properly help his friend.
It’s Sunday so he’ll have to wait till after dinner to begin his investigation. Most of the kids RSVP’d, except for Jason but he’s pretty sure he’ll show because Alfred made his favourite, and it's been a while since he’s been able to get them all here
After dinner maybe Tony will feel the need to talk. Bruce can’t help but hope.
The second Bruce had finished helping him with his things he had closed the door and locked himself in the bathroom. He feels bad. Bruce has been nothing but kind to him and he’s locked himself away. He’s beyond grateful Bruce had agreed to let him stay.
He wants Bruce to know that but the longer he spent in the man’s presence the more anxious he grew. Bruce can’t know. Bruce can’t know because Tony is supposed to be stronger than this. Bruce can’t know because Tony should be able to defend himself and not rely on Batman’s paranoid to keep him safe. But after Siberia-
No.
The point is Bruce can't know because that would ruin everything. Tony cares about Bruce and having Bruce know would mean- he would lose Bruce most certainly. He’s Tony Stark, genius, playboy, billionaire, philanthropist. He shouldn’t have come here but now that he’s here he can’t bring himself to leave.
He looks at himself in the mirror. He’s lost weight. He knows Bruce know’s somethings up. He’s Batman and Tony looks worse than he did in the aftermath of New York. He’ll just have to make something up. He’s lied to Bruce before. Mind you it never stuck and not about something like this.
He’ll have to be careful. Bruce’s build is an awful lot like his and Tony can’t risk having a panic attack in a building full of detectives if he’s going to convince them he’s fine.
He takes a shaky breath and tries to push away another flashback. He’s not sure he can trust his memories from that day. Everything is wrong. It has to be. Steve was his friend, he wouldn’t do that.
But this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened either.
“Big man in a suit of armour take that off and what are you”
“Take off the suit Tony”
At the time Tony had responded with snark, his go to defence, but after Siberia he couldn’t just brush it off. These kinds of things don’t happen to playboy billionaires, hell these things don’t happen to Iron Man.
He takes another deep breath and splashes his face with water. He’s fine. He’s Iron Man.
A knock at the door snaps him out of it. “Master Tony, dinner will be ready in 5 minutes and I cannot promise Master Bruce’s children will leave you any if you are less than on time.”
He grins. Of course Bruce’s kids are here. Time to be convincing. He dries his face and looks in the mirror a final time before turning to head to the dining room. Hopefully the kids will be enough of a distraction from Tony. He’s not at his best but he remembers how to quip and he likes Bruce’s kids.
This will be fine.