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Working with Tony was like it’s own form of personalised torture for Bruce. It was completely ridiculous that a grown man could be so adorable . Bruce watched him from the corner of his eye as Tony bounced from table to table, chattering away to JARVIS and bopping to the - oh God, is that Taylor Swift? - pop music blasting through the speakers. He had a t-shirt with a kitten on the front on today, and Bruce was almost hypnotised by the hologram lights reflecting off the cat’s sequined collar. There was motor oil in his hair, a streak of it along his jaw and smudging into his Van Dyke, and he had a wrench tucked behind his ear.
Bruce smiled and looked away, focusing his attention back on his own work. Attempting to map the cellular adaptation of Steve’s blood to different environmental stimuli was fascinating, it really was, he just… couldn’t focus when Tony was dancing to Taylor Swift in those jeans. Those jeans that looked like he’d just painted his legs black. And his feet were bare, which annoyed Bruce to no end - Safety, Tony! - and he had bright blue painted toenails. Clearly he’d spent the morning with Nat.
“Brucie Bear!” Bruce couldn’t help the flash of affection that went through him when he heard Tony say his nickname like that . Like Bruce was his most important person, like he mattered to Tony.
So he spun on his chair and smiled indulgently at the other genius who was standing in front of him, bouncing on the balls of his feet and grinning madly. “Yes, Tony?”
But Tony just shook his head, and grabbed Bruce’s hand to tug him over to a hologram that was rotating around his table. It looked like –
“Tony,” Bruce sighed. “Why is there a holographic representation of Captain America’s ass in my face?”
“It’s for science !”
“Uh-huh,” Bruce sighed again and took his glasses off to clean them. Even blurry, he had to admit Steve really did have an incredible set of glutes. Must be all the bouncing about after his shield. “And why is it in my face?”
“I’m redesigning Cap’s suit,” Tony waved his hand and Bruce caught sight of his fingernails as he did. They were painted too, alternating between a neon green and dark purple. Subtle, Nat, he thought bitterly. He should have never let his guard down around that woman.
“You’ve still yet to explain Cap’s ass, and its proximity to my face, Tony.”
Tony grinned up at him and Bruce felt his face heat up as he realised how close Tony suddenly was to him. “You have no sense of personal space, Tony.”
A hand waved in his general direction was his only response to that as Tony turned his focus back to the holograms. “The reason the Great Icy Ass is in your face, is because I need another pair of eyes for a minute. I don’t remember exactly how long I’ve been staring at this fabric composition but I - ”
“You have been working on that project for the last seventeen hours, Sir. And you have been awake now for a total of nearly forty-three. I must strongly suggest you rest now, Sir.”
“Tony!” Bruce felt pure exasperation roll through him. Adorable, yes. Total genius, absolutely. Able to remember to stop and sleep?
Apparently not.
“C’mon then,” Bruce signalled to JARVIS to shut everything down. “Let’s get you up to bed.” He leant forward and grasped Tony’s arm, towing him through the ‘shop and powering down his own workstation as he went. Tony let him tow him along, grumbling under his breath as he went about traitorous AI’s and Science-Bro’s of Ultimate-Betrayal all the way into the elevator.
“At least you’re reasonably clean,” Bruce observed as Tony leant against his shoulder, exhaustion seeming to suddenly catch up to him once he stopped moving.
“’m a grown ass man, Boo,” he grouched. “I can to-totally - ” a giant yawn interrupted him, and Tony just mumbled incoherently into Bruce’s shoulder, going limp and slumping down as he did. Bruce just managed to get an arm under Tony’s shoulders in time to catch him before he hit the floor.
“Hey – whoa, Tony! ” He stood there awkwardly a moment, half holding Tony up and wondering what in the hell to do now.
“Apologies, Doctor Banner, but Sir seems to be completely unconscious. Would you mind terribly taking him to his room, or shall I ask Captain Rogers?”
Bruce glanced up at the ceiling and shook his head. “No, no. I, uh, I’ll take him, J. N-no need to call Steve. Really.”
“Of course, Doctor Banner.”
Bruce blushed at the tone in JARVIS’s voice. Because of course Tony’s AI knew. Bruce was apparently about as subtle as a bilgesnipe if Thor was to be believed. The only person in the tower who was unaware of his feelings for Tony… was Tony.
He hoisted the unconscious genius up into his arms, grateful that a little of the extra strength from the Hulk carried over to him. Plus, carrying Tony was like picking up a duckling. He weighed absolutely not enough and his hair was delightfully fluffy and soft against his arm, motor oil and all.
JARVIS opened the doors to the penthouse and Bruce made his way into Tony’s room. He’d been in here before of course, but this was the first time he’d been in here since Pepper had left almost a year ago. Then, it had been a bright space, filled with paintings on the walls and a brightly patterned cover over his frankly ridiculous bed. There had been knickknacks, and perfume bottles, loose shoes and blankets. It had looked warm and lived in.
As he stepped in now, all Bruce could think was that he’d seen sterile labs with more personality. Gone was all the brightness, that lived in feeling. Now, there was a plain black cover on the bed, nothing on the walls- just empty shelves and spaces.
“JARVIS?” he asked softly. “Does Tony… does he actually sleep in here?”
There was a slight pause before JARVIS answered. “My privacy protocols regarding Sir do not allow me to answer that ,” he said carefully. Bruce picked up on it immediately.
“J, will Tony be more comfortable somewhere else?”
“Sir often falls asleep in the lounge watching TV,” the AI answered promptly. Bruce nodded his thanks and took Tony back out to the lounge room.
He saw the blankets folded over the couch and Tony’s favourite movie-night pillows stacked up in the corner, and gave a sad sigh. Tony was such an incredible person, and losing Pepper had obviously hurt him more than he’d let on. He tucked Tony in carefully, making sure that there was an extra blanket across his feet. He’d noticed over time that Tony’s feet always seemed to be cold, and wondered often if it was a side effect of the arc-reactor interfering with his circulation.
But he knew better than to ask. Tony was notoriously private about the reactor, and had only agreed to teach Bruce how to change it if something happened, after something had happened. So, he knew the basics and knew enough to know that it had to be painful at times, but Tony never let it get him down.
Bruce paused a moment before he left and tucked a stray curl back behind Tony’s ear. Tony mumbled something and buried his face in his pillows. Bruce bit back a dopey grin. He really was utterly adorable.
“Can you block his calls and stuff for a while, J? Unless it’s a call to assemble, I really think he needs the sleep…” Bruce asked as he took the elevator to the next floor down. JARVIS gave him an affirmative, and Bruce wandered out onto his own floor with his mind a jumbled mess.
Tony was an idiot. He was a genius, but he was an idiot . Bruce was not subtle, and he knew that. He thought he’d been at least a little subtle, but if even Steve had noticed then, yeah… not as subtle as he thought.
It wasn’t his fault really, he thought as he got undressed for bed himself. JARVIS had kindly displayed the time in front of him when he’d paused in the kitchen to look at the tea cabinet and apparently it was 3 am.
But, his feelings for Tony… it was really all Tony’s fault.
Because Tony was just so damn lovable. He wore giant hoodies with thumb-holes in the sleeves and fuzzy socks in the winter. He had fluffy curls that bounced when he bounced. And Tony’s eyes… Bruce was positive that he’d performed some kind of black magic to get them to be that big and expressive. And really, what man had lashes that thick and pretty?
So yeah. Loving Tony? Totally Tony’s fault.
Bruce had no idea what a bilgesnipe was, but he was determined to be more subtle than it. As he lay in bed and tried to meditate his way to sleep, Bruce was struck with an idea.
Bruce Banner had seven PhD’s. It was time to put one of them to use.
Just you watch, Thor. Bet bilgesnipes have never won a man’s heart with flowers before.
~*~
Bruce made sure he was up reasonably early the next morning so he could get what he needed and be home before Tony woke up and disappeared back into the lab. He had to visit three florists before he found one who was selling what he needed, and he was more than happy to pay her – completely and utterly exorbitant – reasonable prices.
He scurried back to the tower at top speed and asked JARVIS if Tony was awake yet.
“He has opened his eyes, Doctor Banner, but has not yet reached the level of consciousness required to actually move his body from his bed. You have at least thirty minutes.”
Bruce grinned to himself, and went straight down to the lab. He quickly typed up the little message he wanted to include and laid the bunch of flowers down on Tony’s desk. He also picked up the fifteen dirty coffee cups that were scattered over it too, because that’s just seriously disgusting Tony, my God.
He left the dirty mugs in the decontamination sink near the entrance to labs, and asked JARVIS to please take him up to the common floor. He needed a cup of tea, and to make sure that Tony’s favourite mug and spoon were on the bench.
It wasn’t until he was brewing his tea, and setting out Tony’s mug and spoon beside the coffee-maker, that he realised that the kitchen was completely silent. Bruce turned around slowly to find the entire team – minus Tony – all staring at him from their various seats around the dining table.
“Uh, morning guys,” he waved awkwardly, before clutching his mug of tea to his chest. “What’s up?”
“Dude, why were you humming ?” Bruce blinked at Clint in confusion. “No, seriously Bruce. You were humming Somewhere over the Rainbow.” Clint’s eyes lit up then and a devious grin spread over his face. Bruce took an instinctive step backwards. “Oh! My! God! You got laid! ”
“Who got laid?” Bruce felt his entire face burn red then, because of course Tony would walk into the kitchen at that exact moment. “Brucie Boo, didja get some buddy?” he slurred as he walked past to get to the coffee machine, half-heartedly clapping a hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “Good f’r you.”
“I, what, no – I did not get laid! ” Bruce would deny until the day he died that he squawked , and Clint would claim that he did – stupid flappy arm motions and all.
“M’kay then,” Tony mumbled, his face already half-buried in his coffee cup. “We gonna science?” Bruce nodded. “Awesome. Lets go. If you’re not gettin’ laid then there’s no one waitin’ to do the walk of shame that needs to be escorted out.”
Tony shuffled back out the kitchen a few minutes later with a full mug of coffee in each hand and a bagel balanced on his head. Bruce stayed back to glare at Clint, deliberately letting the Hulk colour his eyes in warning.
“Stop messing this up,” he growled at him, letting his voice get low and gravelly. “Or I will smash you.”
Bruce waited until Clint had nodded his head and gulped in fear before he left after Tony.
When he reached the lab, Tony had already drunk one and a half of his coffees and sat the bagel… somewhere. Tony was sitting in his chair, spinning idly from side to side as he examined the little bouquet in his hands. He spun all the way around and grinned at Bruce when entered.
“Brucie! My boo! My Science-Bro! Look! I’ve got an admirer!” Tony brought the flowers up to his face and sniffed dramatically, before he lowered them to wink at Bruce. “Are you jealous? I bet you are! Look! There’s a card too – Your presence lessens my pains. I wonder who’s pains I’m lessening?”
Bruce just stared at him. He’d as good as signed it ‘Bruce bloody Banner’.
“Y-yeah, that’s uh, that’s great Tony,” he sighed. “I’m gonna check my samples.”
He watched the other man carefully throughout the rest of the day, and was pleased to see Tony often turned to look at the flowers and smiled whenever he caught sight of them.
This was good data for Bruce. He was a scientist, so all data was helpful.
A second test would be needed.
~*~
“Bruuuuuuuce! My favourite big green smashin’ machine!” Tony was bouncing on the spot like some kind of hyperactive kangaroo. Bruce smothered a grin. In Tony’s hands was a massive bunch of Bindweed flowers. “And there was another little card! Look! These ones mean Inspiration !”
Bruce smiled and as he opened his mouth to compliment Tony, ‘You inspire me everyday, Tony’ – Tony ruined it by opening his first.
“I bet it’s one of those new interns for SI! They’ve got access down here with Pepper when she collects the paperwork piles in the morning. Aw, I’m so happy I inspire someone Bruce!”
Okay.
Bruce smiled weakly and nodded along with Tony as he rambled on and off throughout the day about his admirer and being an inspiration.
More data, Bruce thought frantically. Just need to try again.
~*~
“Your qualities surpass your charms,” Tony read in a pleased tone as he shuffled the bouquet from its wrapping to the vase. The Mignonette flowers had taken Bruce days to track down. But he wasn’t pissed that some made up intern was getting the credit.
Not at all.
The fact that the Hulk’s Playroom had never had such a thrashing in all the time Bruce had been in the tower was a complete coincidence, regardless of what Clint and Nat said.
Smug jerks.
He just needed to try again.
~*~
The Ranunculus flowers made Tony blush, and not that sweet little red flush that Bruce adored, but a full bright red from the tips of his ears all down the back of his neck.
He’d left the card off this time too, so Tony had to come and ask him what they meant. And Bruce had taken advantage as much as he could.
He took the bouquet from Tony and made a show of fussing with the flowers, before passing them back to Tony, who gave him an odd look.
“Uh, you okay Brucie B Bear?”
“Sure am. These are Ranunculus flowers. They mean ‘You are Radiant’, ” Bruce said softly. “And you are, you know. Radiant. You can light up the whole room when you smile.”
Bruce watched as Tony’s eyes grew bright and his grin dropped into something smaller and more genuine.
“Th-thanks, Bruce,” he mumbled shyly and moved to put his flowers in the empty vase he’d started to keep on his desk after the second bouquet. Bruce just smiled at him and moved back to his table, and spent the rest of the day pretending not to notice Tony sneaking looks at him.
Positive data acquired.
~*~
“Devotion” , Bruce smiled at Tony as he handed him the bunch of flowers. “Red Peonies mean Devotion.”
Tony took the flowers and stared at him, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. Bruce reached out and very gently pressed it shut.
“Maybe you don’t see it, but you are worthy of being loved, Tony. And there is so much good in you that deserves to be loved. To have someone completely devoted to you.”
Bruce leant in and pressed a very light kiss against Tony’s cheek, before he moved to make his tea. The rest of the Avengers were making no attempt to pretend they weren’t all staring, but Bruce made sure to glare at Clint anyway as he steeped his tea, slowly shaking his head when the archer opened his mouth.
Nat reached under the table and very softly rested her hand high up on his thigh in warning, winking at Bruce as she did.
Bruce loved Nat in that moment. Not as much, or in the same way as he loved Tony – because he loved Tony in the white picket fence, matching pajamas and toothbrushes in one cup kind of way – but she was his best friend.
Bruce took his tea over to the table and sat in his usual seat beside Thor, and calmly picked up the newspaper to read it. He heard Steve counting quietly under his breath across the table and bit his tongue to hold in a laugh as Steve reached forty-seven and Tony made a strangled squeaking noise and bolted from the kitchen. That was a new record for Tony.
There was silence for a few moments, as they heard JARVIS’s hushed voice and Tony’s panicked one replying before the elevator doors slid shut. Steve whistled at him.
“Not trying to be subtle anymore, Bruce?”
“It wasn’t working, apparently,” Bruce replied, not looking up from his newspaper. “Bad data.”
Thor clapped him on the shoulder when he was finished his tea and announced his joy at Bruce’s sudden boldness in his advances.
“Well, I couldn’t be beaten by a bilgesnipe ,” Bruce grouched as he set the paper aside and left the kitchen, rubbing his shoulder.
Thor stared after him, a puzzled look on his face. “I believe Friend Bruce has misunderstood what a bilgesnipe is. I believe the Midgardian phrase for acting like a bilgesnipe, is to compare one to a bovine in a shop of antiquities.”
Steve snorted his coffee out his nose, and Nat and Clint shared a grin.
~*~
When Bruce went down to the lab three days later to drag Tony out of his self-imposed exile, he did it with another bouquet. But when he found Tony fast asleep on the ratty old couch near his car collection, Bruce changed his mind and set the flowers in the vase instead. He carefully wrote out the flowers and their meaning on a sticky-note and stuck it to the side of the vase.
‘These are Tiger Lillies. They mean I Dare You to Love Me. ’
He let himself out of the lab and went back to his floor to read, and catch up his paperwork. Bruce was six hours into a Lord of the Rings marathon while he attempted to summarise his work on the Super Soldier Serum’s effects on cellular adaptation, sprawled out over his living room floor, when the elevator door opened and he suddenly had a lapful of Tony Stark.
“I hate being dared.” Bruce blinked at him and Tony stared right back, big brown eyes barely blinking. “Because I am extremely competitive. And you know that. I am also, apparently, very oblivious. Because JARVIS has just shown me hours of footage of you carrying me places, and tucking me in, and fretting and watching me and smiling lots and leaving the first bunches of flowers and - ”
Bruce put his hand over Tony’s mouth. “Tony, it’s okay,” he licked his lips and noticed that Tony’s eyes tracked the movement of his tongue as he did. “Breathe.”
Tony licked his palm. Bruce just sighed. “Really Tony?” Whatever he tried to snark back in reply was muffled and Bruce just waited it out. “Now. I’m going to say some things. And then, if I move my hand, can you promise not to ramble at me? A simple yes or no will suffice.”
Tony nodded and Bruce took a deep breath. “Good. I do love you, very much. You’re a remarkable man. You accept me as I am, and you accept the Hulk. You poke me with sharp things, and aren’t afraid of me. You hug me and treat me like I’m just a normal man. And somewhere between the Battle of New York and now, I fell rather hard for you. You don’t have to love me back, but I think it’d be worth giving whatever it is between us a chance.” He moved his hand and sat back. “Your turn.”
“You’re a moron.” Bruce just nodded and waited for Tony to continue. “But I’m a moron too. You’re obvious and I’m oblivious. And… and I wanna try,” he finished quietly. “I really… I mean, I… you know… you too.”
Tony chewed on his bottom lip and Bruce reached up without thinking to tug it free. “I can’t say I love you and that’s why Pepper left me because she didn’t really think I did!” he blurted out, and immediately hung his head. “It’s… the last person I said it to was my mama, and she died that night. And I’ve always had this… this thing now that if I say it…”
“That if you say it, they’ll leave?”
Tony nodded miserably. “So even if we do this, you’ll never get more than a ‘you know’ or ‘you too’. And that’s never enough,” his voice was so quiet and dejected, and Bruce hated that.
“Well that’s not exactly a deal breaker,” Bruce said confidently, shifting himself around so he was less sprawled awkwardly and more sitting up with Tony’s legs over his, and their chests pressed together. He slid his fingers through Tony’s and tugged their joined hands up to his lips so he could press small kisses to Tony’s knuckles. “I’ll just say it twice as often then. It’s just good science.”
That drew a slow smile out of Tony. “Good science?” Bruce nodded firmly. “I like good science.”
Bruce smiled at him. “Can you help me with some new data then?” When Tony nodded, Bruce leant forward and kissed him until Tony was squirming in his lap, and Bruce had to pull away to breathe.
Tony gave him barely a moment to recuperate before he was pushing him onto his back and crawling up onto him, leaning down to kiss him again.
“It’s for science.”
~*~