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Tony eyed himself in the mirror with a considering frown. He tugged on a damp lock of hair that had fallen over his forehead. “I don’t know,” he said at last. “I think it looks kind of dashing, really.”
In the other room, Bruce was grumbling to himself. “I’ll lay odds on Clint,” he muttered when Tony wandered into the bedroom, wrapping his arms around the stockier man and resting his chin on Bruce’s shoulder.
“I concur,” he murmured, turning his head to nuzzle against Bruce’s cheek, the other man’s bright blue, glitter-soaked curls brushing against his forehead. “However, the bird brain tends to forget that I make his tech now,” he added gleefully. He wouldn’t do anything that might get Clint hurt in the field, but he wasn’t above being petty. And Clint lived in the Tower part-time. Tony had time to plan, prepare, and execute. Clint would never see it coming.
Bruce sighed. “Yeah, but what about in the meantime? I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to just wash out, Tony,” he said, scraping a hand through his hair and then holding it up in demonstration. Not even a speck of glitter. Tony was actually kind of impressed, not that he’d ever tell the other man that. It would go straight to his head.
Tony slipped around so that they were standing face-to-face and laid a gentle kiss on Bruce’s mouth. The other man responded after a moment, relaxing as he indulged in the kiss.
When Tony pulled back, he was grinning. “Maybe not,” he agreed, “but other than our teammates, who’s going to say anything?” He considered that for a moment. “JARVIS, please tell me I don’t have any board meetings this week.”
“A board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday. Shall I inform Miss Potts that you will be unable to attend?” the AI asked, his tone amused.
Tony thought about that for all of two seconds. “Nah, what the hell. Keep it in the books, J,” he said with a mischievous grin. “Let those old men complain about it. They seem to forget that I’m the only reason they have jobs, or a company. Besides, the only one I actually have to worry about is Pepper, and I’m pretty sure ‘it was all Barton’s fault’ is actually a legitimate defense in this case.”
“I’m sure Miss Potts will be ecstatic, sir,” JARVIS intoned dryly.
“Cheeky,” Tony muttered, but Bruce was chuckling now, his expression lightening up, and Tony wrapped his arm around the other man’s shoulders, dragging him over towards the closet. “There we go, that’s more like it. Now, what do you say we put on some clothes and head downstairs? It’s movie night, and it’s your turn to pick, isn’t it?” he asked. The others would probably already have snacks ready and waiting when they went down, but after spending all day in the lab messing about with chemicals and engine parts, they had both needed a serious hosing down. So a shower it was. Except that somebody had switched out their shampoo. Tony supposed he should just be grateful that it had only been the shampoo, and that it had only dyed their hair.
Bruce just sighed. “I suppose we should,” he said, though not reluctantly. Tony was pretty sure that the fact that he wasn’t the only one with blue hair was probably lifting his spirits. Tony was fairly sure he looked ridiculous.
“That’s the way,” he agreed cheerfully, rummaging around in his closet for some comfortable clothes.
Bruce came up behind him. “You’re glowing,” he murmured.
Tony glanced back at him, grabbing a set of old, worn t-shirts. Bruce had sweatpants in his hands. “What?” he asked.
Rather than try to explain, Bruce just stepped forward, crowding Tony further into the closest. Tony laughed, prepared to say something completely inappropriate, but he paused when his brain finally caught up. “Oh. Son of a bitch,” he breathed. There must have been some sort of fluorescent gel or powder in the shampoo.
Bruce grinned, then started laughing, a deep, low rumble that soon turned into incontrollable giggles. Tony followed along; Bruce’s laughter was contagious. “What?” he gasped out between bouts of laughter.
Bruce shook his head, straightening up a little bit and wiping at the tears streaming down his cheeks. “Just…here we are, two intelligent grown men, crowded into a closet with hair that glows in the dark because one of our teammates is a juvenile and thought it would be funny. And we’re about to go downstairs, where we will watch a movie, in a dimly lit room, with the aforementioned team.”
Tony snickered. “Do you think they’ll actually pay attention to the movie?” he wondered out loud.
Bruce shrugged, leaving the closet and pulling Tony with him so they could finish throwing on their clothes. “Interesting query,” he murmured. “I suppose we’ll just have to go find out, won’t we?” He was still smiling, and Tony decided that maybe he wouldn’t stain Clint’s uniform pink. After all, anything that could make Bruce laugh like that was more than worth the inconvenience.
Even if it meant putting up with glittery, blue glow-in-the-dark hair for a while.