Chapter Text
Bruce still remembered the first week he’d stayed in Stark Towers. It certainly had been a jarring change for him. In the span of one week he’d jumped from a sleeping bag in India to the clinical, almost cell-like workspace with SHIELD. And then just as quickly he was moving into one of the most coveted places in New York where he had an entire floor and laboratory all to himself.
Back on the helicarrier, when Tony had been pitching the idea to him he’d called it candyland. And now that he’d stupidly agreed to move to the city he found the nickname very fitting. His workspace was better stocked than anything he’d ever had before, even when he was with the university. And if he did ever need anything else for research or experiments, it could be shipped in within hours. Not to mention his apartment space either, which had been partially tailor-made to his own requests. All calm down-to-earth colors that seemed out of place in the rest of the chrome, futuristic tower. He could have anything he asked for at just the drop of a hat.
Yet even having so much independence, privacy and power he felt extremely out of place.
For years he’d been avoiding major cities and crowded areas. A way to try and ensure he didn’t hurt so many people. So being at the center of one of the most stressful places in the country had him worried. But Tony always seemed to insist that everything would be fine. Even with his near-constant assuring Bruce couldn’t help but worry, he’d done so much off-hand damage to the city during the fight, and that was when he was mad at hordes of face-less aliens. Imagine what he might do if he directly sent that unbridled rage towards humans, the people who actually lived there?
Another factor came from his room. Even while he had the walls and floor reinforced doubly, just in case anything happened, he felt so conscious of the fact now. That below soft carpets and wood floors were nets of high-grade steel-titanium-adamantium alloy. Sure the big guy would still be able to break through if he really dedicated himself, but it still didn’t help the fact that he could feel so caged. His own confinement always came as a mixed-feeling for Bruce. On one hand he knew it might be safer for humanity if he were contained, but on the other hand he knew deep in his heart that there was next to nothing in the world that could keep the Incredible Hulk down and any attempt to hold him back would be fruitless. Even with that said the thought still sent chills down his spine. Being locked in a box, buried underground and never seen again. Or worse yet, being on display... He doubted Tony would ever do something like that, but that inkling of paranoia seemed to always follow him. From the reinforced walls to the bed that felt a bit too soft. He wondered if that feeling would ever go away completely.
And then there was Mr. Tony Stark himself. Even before the accident Bruce hadn’t been the most social person. And after the development of his giant green ultra-ego he’d gone into a self-imposed isolation, moving from place to place to stay ahead of the army, never getting close to anyone. And now here he was living with relatively close quarters with the one of the biggest names in technology, weaponry. Suffice to say he was nothing like the handful of friends he had in college who were quiet and reserved much like himself. Tony was loud, demanding attention even when he was working alone.
When he’d first met Tony he’d been a curve ball in every meaning of the word. Throwing him off. Catching his guard down. When he’d first met with SHIELD he was surprised when the man directly approached him without any sign of reservation and began excitedly talking with him about the physicality of the tesseract. He had an ease when around Bruce that he’d never seen anyone who knew of his true powers have. And he’d been right when they’d first met. It was nice to finally meet someone who spoke “English”. He didn’t even realize how much he’d missed talking facts and figures until he was talking with Tony. Bruce thought that would be the end of that casual, friendly attitude towards him but as they began to work closely together he only seemed to warm up to him even more. Even while trying to help save the planet from the god of Chaos as well as crack the mystery that was SHIELD’s own suspicious activity, Tony found time to crack jokes, make small talk. And yet even for how much the man seemed to purposely avoid doing any real work, the results he got from just a few hours on the helicarrier were impressive to Bruce to say the least.
Somehow in the end, all that charisma and friendliness must of won him over because here he was living and working alongside Tony Stark, billionaire and engineer extraordinaire, in a city he’d once vowed to never step foot in. And all those feelings and uncertainties seemed to all come to a head and make his first week living in New York his own personal hell. He barely got any sleep. The closest he got to relaxed was in attempted meditation, but even then his concentration was weak and never felt anything deeper in his mind than his concentrated breathing and forced motions.
One night he couldn’t stand staying in his bedroom, the feeling of being caged felt so strong it was enough to drive him out of the room, out of his own apartment, and he headed up to the shared living space Tony had made for the whole Avengers team to enjoy. No one else had completely taken Tony up on his offer besides Bruce so he expected it to be empty. Even if he was still alone he hoped at least being in a different space might help dislodge the panicked train of thought that kept going through his head whenever he tried to go to sleep in that room.
But as he stepped out of the elevator and onto the floor, he was surprised to see light shining out from the community kitchen.
There, making a microwaved burrito and a pot of coffee in near-complete darkness was Tony.
The only sources of light were the pale yellow from the microwave and the stronger blue light hat constantly radiated from Tony’s chest. He turned over when Bruce walked in, he looked dead on his feet. The weak lighting only accented the bags under his eyes, making his whole face seem worn.
“Hey you.” It was probably the quietest Bruce had ever heard Tony.
“Hi? I didn’t think you would still be up.” Bruce said, unsure if he should be here or if he should just go back to his room and suffer through the rest of the night on his own.
But Tony didn’t seem to mind, he just shrugged and slowly looked back at his burrito. “Eh, probably. I’ve been doing some suit upgrades.”
“At two in the morning?” Last time Bruce had checked a clock it was a little past two, and that was back in his bedroom.
“Time’s an illusion.” Tony replied, completely unfazed.
Bruce couldn’t help but snort at that. “Ok, then I guess it’s pointless to ask when you started if time isn’t real. What upgrades are these exactly?”
Just like that, it was like they were back in the laboratories on the helicarrier. Despite looking like he was going to pass out Tony began going through the improvements on his latest suit in between bites of his burrito. Eventually Tony invited Bruce to his workshop to keep talking over his fresh pot of coffee.
Even now after everything Bruce still remembered that night fondly. It was one of the first nights where Bruce felt… Where he could pretend, even if only for a few minutes, that his accident never happened. That he was just a physicist and biologist, not a ticking time bomb one stressor away from destroying everything he touched. Tony treated him like the equal he was, respected his intellect and ideas, even enjoyed working with him. And he didn’t see as anything less. Anything to be feared.
They’d spent that entire night testing out Tony’s suit and talking about nearly everything from the laws of physics, to mundane gossip among their new team. And all the while the arc reactor glowed softly from under Tony’s shirt.
Sometimes Bruce found he missed the reactor, even if it was a necessity for Tony’s health. The way it shined out in a dark room. How it had glowed in kitchen that night, and for many nights afterwards. Or how nights even further after that it could just illuminate their bedroom when completely unblocked.
There was also a much less literal light about Tony Bruce had learned way back then too. The way his eyes would spark from a new idea, or how his face would light up when he got excited. And Tony’s old arc was nothing compared to the light he’d brought into his life.
He’d tried saying something that sappy to Tony once, but neither of them had been able to keep a straight face and burst out laughing.