Work Text:
This particular afternoon found Bruce and Tony at their favorite coffee shop. They needed to get out of the lab for some fresh air and to stretch their legs.
"The usual, gentlemen?' The server knew all of her regular's orders by heart.
"Yes, please, and maybe a couple of almond biscotti?" Tony looked across the table at Bruce, who nodded his approval.
"Great. I've got a trainee with me today, so I'm gonna be letting her take over." she explained before leaving the table.
They may have been taking a physical break, but they rarely took mental ones. Happily scribbling rough sketches and notes onto whatever material was available at the time was part of their routine. After a few minutes, the trainee delivered their items. She noted the myriad of napkins spread out over the table. Back behind the counter, she asked her coworker, "What's with those two?"
"Nerd love." the other smiled.
When they overheard the comment, Bruce and Tony glanced at each other, but said nothing. In a moment, they were back to their figures.
As they walked back to the tower, each of them seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. Bruce was the first to break the silence.
"Kinda funny, what that waitress said, huh?"
"Yeah. Kids these days." Tony replied.
They continued on, wordlessly, until Tony piped up. "Let's take a detour."
Bruce followed him off of their normal route, and eventually found himself sitting next to Tony on a park bench, under a shady tree. They sat in an awkward silence for a while, until Tony finally spoke.
"Look Bruce, I'm gonna go out on a limb here. What that girl said got me to thinking. It's been pretty great since you moved into the tower. We have a lot of fun, don't we, and we're really accomplishing a lot."
"Having a collaborator for the first time in forever has been a real treat for me." Bruce agreed.
"Now, I don't know about you, but I kinda feel like we're more than just coworkers."
"Well, we're friends too, I believe." Bruce may have had an idea of where this might be going. He played with a stray thread on his sleeve.
"Yeah, definitely. We click, we get each other." Tony began to stammer. "I think, I mean, I was wondering, I dunno if you might be into it or not but..."
It was Bruce's turn to go out on that limb now. He leaned over, and gave Tony a gentle kiss. "If by 'it' you mean you, then yeah, I'm into it." he whispered.
***
Tony had Bruce backed up against the counter in the kitchen. They were oblivious to their surroundings, focused only on each other's lips. Natasha and Clint were about to enter the room, when they saw the scene. They barely broke stride as they did an about-face and headed back in the direction from which they came.
"Looks like the Science Boyfriends finally figured it out." Clint commented, still within earshot of said couple.
Tony paused his assault on Bruce's mouth. "Science Boyfriends?" he said, quizzically.
"I like that." Bruce smiled.