seekevolution | The Amulet

It is exactly the right thing to say. Bruce relaxes under Tony's hands with those words and lets out a breath of relief. It gives him enough courage to lean in and actually press his lips to Tony's collarbone, remembering how it felt to touch Betty and feel taut, warm skin under his lips of someone he cared about. Tony might have been trying not to think of Pepper while they lay here like this, but Bruce is the opposite. It isn't tainting a memory, it isn't guilt; it's only adding to something he holds close in his heart.

Bruce still doesn't fully understand why Tony chose to do what he did for Pepper. No, not that he doesn't understand that Tony loves her enough to do it... but he doesn't understand how Pepper can't see that Iron Man is as much a part of Tony as is the need to breathe. There is something lesser about him, in how he carries himself.

He thinks Tony misses it.

Despite his need to be in control of just about everything, in bed, that's not the case. He'd rather just nudge Bruce along here and there and let the other man decide where to go. It's so much safer. So much less potentially disastrous should intensity become a problem along the way.

Encouraging the lips at his throat with fingers threading through Bruce's hair, Tony's spare hand traces lines and curves of muscles from the small of Bruce's back to his shoulders. He understands why the doctor might need to be muscled, to be at least leanly athletic--

But damn. Years on the run have given Bruce quite the hard body!

Oh, he quite likes that. The fingers in his hair feel rather good, very encouraging, and he pauses to simply enjoy the feeling of it for a few long heartbeats. While he's certainly not Tony in terms of muscle, and there are spots that are less than lean, he is probably more muscular than most scientists and doctors, for certain. The pudge on his belly only gives him a softness he needs, right?

The kisses, more like presses of his lips, are soft, shifting, feeling the way the muscle and esophagus beneath the skin move. When he feels the pulse bright under his mouth, he pauses, counting, before pressing a heavier kiss there.

Sorry for the glacial pace, Tony.

Glacial? Yeah, that's a good word for it. Tony's half amused and half frustrated, ready to pop any second. He shifts uncomfortably under Bruce, leg moving to keep him close and keep him interested and remind him that there's a whole lot more to touch if only Bruce would figure it out.

He's not one to be worshipped. Not like this at least. Letting Bruce take the lead is driving him just a little bit nuts. To prove his point, hands drift purposefully south and the mound of flesh filling out the back of Bruce's sleep pants gets a good kneading.

Having someone paw at his backside is a new feeling, not bad by any means, but a bit distracting. Bruce breathes warm against Tony's neck, then shifts his weight to an elbow to look over him. His fingers find the scar at the center of his chest, feeling the reconstructed bone beneath. Such a beautifully done surgery, but then again Tony had paid for the best of the best.

Bruce's gaze lifts from that and he is quiet but, somewhat rarely, a bit blunt because fumbling towards an unknown is a touch disconcerting. "What do you want me to do?" He asks. Not quite what he wanted to ask, which is 'what do you want from me?' But it would do for now.

"Touch me." Tony has no qualms with directing Bruce to do the things he wants him to. It's easy, even if it shouldn't be. He struggles with the waistband of his sleeping trousers, tugging Bruce back down at the same time for another kiss.

It's a victory lap, this. Not just over Mohinder, but Bruce himself. Tony sells it as a way to open his friend up, to let him explore himself. He's not a good man. Not rely. He tries, but he's just human.

Pleasure is something Tony wants above all else now. He's always been so hedonistic though.

Bruce feels Tony wriggling around beneath him, the removal of pants- oh. He swallows hard, assuming what Tony means by 'touch me'. Each kiss is electric, making his breath shudder and throw him more off-balance, but he knows he can't let himself go beyond this point. Things have to stay safe, for Tony's sake.

But maybe he could just pleasure Tony instead. That... Would be acceptable. He's ignored himself for years enough that his body hasn't reacted terribly much yet, though he could feel Tony hard through his soft sleeping pants.

Cautiously, a hand slides down and just like that, thinking it is a start on a path he's firmly lost sight of, he cups Tony in his warm palm, feeling the nearly matching heat.

Good. It's good. Bruce fumbles but it's a little difficult to mess up a handjob. His thumb skirts along the underside of his friend's jaw and his head falls back on the pillows. He won't make Bruce work too hard for it. He is entirely too pent up and having even uncertain touches makes him mewl like a kitten.

Soft, whispered words of instruction or encouragement will pass through his lips. His knees twitch slightly and the muscles of his abdomen clench. He's not sure why this is so important... But it is. Every moment of this is important.

There is something about the sounds that Tony makes that Bruce finds himself wanting to bring more of, enjoying more than he would have expected. His fingers move without even the skill that men would normally have - it's been years since he allowed himself to do anything sexual even with himself.

But he does try, following the instructions given to him and what made Tony gasp and mewl, and he watches. Tony's face is intriguing to watch like this, how his expression changes, the parting of his lips and the sounds that come from them.

More than intriguing, if he let himself feel it all.

The mess the follows is always Tony's least favorite part, but it's his own and that's why there's a nearby shower. He falls back, all of his muscles relaxing, a smile on his face as he gives one last, chuckling moan. He's not going to offer to work Bruce up, or to work him out. He knows the answer to that one will be a resounding no and he feels too nice now to give Banner a reason to leave.

Tissues take care of the initial mess and are discarded where JARVIS can have them automatically removed and incinerated. He really doesn't want or need DNA laying around. He's had a few run ins with crazy people trying to cart it off in the past.

Don't ask.

Tony smiles up into. Bruce's eyes, a hand ruffling through his hair. He needs a trim.

That's bloody creepy, Tony. Bruce is glad he doesn't know.

With a little lean of his head into Tony's hand, Bruce gives a small smile as well. He lays down beside Tony, content enough to stretch out against Tony and put his head on the pillow. It feels... nice. Calm. He watches Tony come down from that high, how he melts into the pillow.

For a moment, he wonders if he would feel that calm from that release as well. If it would even be possible for him to feel that calm ever again.

Tony's fingers lightly move down Bruce's throat to his shoulder and back to his ribs. "Are you all right?" He questions, pulling up the covers as he lightly mouths a stubbled jaw. "Still breathing? Heart all right?" Come closer, Bruce. Tony's become a cuddler. Thank you, Pepper.

He also has a feeling that Bruce might need some reassurance after this. Tony's set it up to have exactly this happen and now that it has, he's more protective, more possessive, of Bruce than he has been before.

Bruce takes a breath and follows the unspoken instructions. He feels inside - heart rate is steady and easy even if a little high, his breathing easy, and more important than anything, Bruce feels nothing stirring in his head.

He nods softly. "Everything is quiet," he informs Tony. Everything is quiet except he doesn't know what to make of this. What he had just done for Tony. Why...?

From his face, it's clear he isn't sure about this at all. Everyone knows that Tony is a playboy and takes what he wants, but Bruce wants nothing to do with that. To be... Something to be had.

It's more than that. More than that but Tony can't say it because he doesn't know what it means to feel it. Loving Pepper is obvious. She knows him better than anyone in every way except his mind. She knows how he takes his coffee and his social security number. She even knows his heart. Or, that he has one at least. And so, he loves her for it.

But all of that had happened before Bruce came along into his life. It'd been so easy. It'd never been that easy before. And while Tony is obsessive and childish and so very confused, he just has to cover it up lest anything happen to these few moments.

He knows, deep down, that he's not the person Bruce would ultimately choose. And it kills him.

Tony's next kiss is heartbreakingly soft. Even he doesn't know why that is. But he tastes Bruce, memorized him. Pleads for him to care enough to overlook how shitty a human being he is... And then stretches out like a cat under him.

"Good. Entertaining as the other guy would be... Good."

Bruce doesn't know those things - wait, no, he knows how Tony takes his coffee by this point. He knows Tony is a childish adult with a good heart that has the usual crimes of being egotistical and selfish, but it's still a very good heart in his opinion. Yes, it had had to be changed, to be pointed down another path than the one he had been molded onto and said there is another way, but he'd followed it.

Besides, Bruce does know his mind. He understands the obsessiveness, the intelligence, and on the other hand from Pepper, he understands Tony's need for Iron Man. For the pain and agony, the triumph and success, the hero worship and saving. Not that he wants it for himself, no, but he saw it in the change from just after the battle in New York to after Tony had destroyed all of the suits.

But this is another thought for another time, because Tony is holding him and unlike the other kisses, this one is tender, soft, and slow. It steals Bruce's breath away from him, leaves him having to steady himself over Tony, blinking down at him.

Then he swallows, refocusing. "Tony..." Soft, unable to follow up the single word with more. Instead, his hand comes up, tracing Tony's jaw slowly.

"Still right here," Tony replies, not mocking Bruce, he can't do the voice at all, Bruce's is too much part of himself to mimic, but simply laying it out there. Tony's here and safe and warm and not running away. He still has a bit of victory lap going on, but that's for another time to analyze.

Tugging Bruce down by his hair, he nudges the other onto his side and wraps an arm around him, big spoon to little spoon, lips to the back of his neck and his own softening erection against Bruce's thigh.

They still need to nap before the real world comes back and JARVIS is ready with Mohinder's preliminary scans.

There is no sleep that's going to come. Instead, with his own arm coming up and securing Tony's against him, Bruce lies very much awake, taking in every little feeling of Tony's body against his, the speed of Tony's breathing, what just happened. There is a strange electric feeling where they touched, where they touch right now, and that last kiss replays over and over.

Tucked up in bed with Tony, the real world feels very far away indeed, and for a time, Bruce is glad for it to be so. He doesn't even notice the little motions of his hand, stroking over Tony's wrist and the back of his palm while he thinks.

He'd never have pegged Bruce for being so affection, but having his skin stroked like that as he drifts off is utterly amazing. Tony wakes up in just as good a mood, leg having inched between Bruce's and body half covering his back like a blanket. He's never fallen asleep holding someone and woken up that way too.

It's sort of mythical.

He grins against Bruce's ear as he pulls himself away (and awake) and hovers for a moment, tabled over him. "JARVIS will have those scans. I'm going to shower."

Bruce turns his head to look up at Tony, brows coming together. Hadn't Tony showered before they went to sleep? Maybe he is mis-remembering, or more like not fully realizing just how bad Tony's tendencies can be at times. He gives a small nod, and then after a moment, he's alone.

It's an odd feeling when he realizes he wishes Tony hadn't left. Like a cat, he ends up turning over and for a minute or two, curls up in the warmth left behind. Ironically, it lets him drift off, not a full sleep, but a cat-nap that Tony, when he's done in the shower, will find Bruce still in, nosed down deep into Tony's pillow.

That's...insane cute. For a few moments, Tony just watches Bruce, fresh and steamy from the shower, before he sucks in a breath and wanders past him, nude and not caring. There's clothing to be put on and Bruce can watch him. Tony has to distance himself a little bit from this.

An affectionate Bruce Banner is really the last thing he needs to fall for right now when he's already lost so much. He can't give up Pepper. He's not physically able to.

He might be able to get away with that blow job but... He doesn't want to push it. "C'mon, I'll order a pizza. How long will you need with Suresh?"

"Mmm?" A groggy sound as Bruce pulls out of his cat-nap, yawning wide before he shifts on the bed, following the voice and focusing on Tony. Must have only napped for a few minutes, right? Pizza. Suresh- oh! Bruce sits up, rubbing a hand over his face to help wake himself up.

"Dunno," he mutters into his hand. "I need to see how bad the damage is." Not to mention he's more than capable of getting just as lost in his work as Tony can, from time to time.

Tony doesn't mind and Bruce can take however long he needs with Mohinder so long as he keeps the monitor on at all times and doesn't go too close. They don't need a repeat of the roof incident. Or with what happened with the agents. Bruce can't die, but there's a lot of others that might as the result and Tony really doesn't need that.

Bruce and his guilt-- it's more of a show stopped than the Hulk.

"I'm sure he's fine. We've all played around with recreational drugs here and there." He pulls on a shirt and pads out of the room. He'll let Bruce follow when he will.

Bruce actually gives a full pause at the 'recreational drugs' as he tries to make it fit into normal understanding, then groans a little to himself. He pulls himself completely out of the warm bed, giving a full body stretch, then scratches at a stubbly jaw. It'll take a full walk to his own rooms, getting properly dressed and a shave, before Bruce finally joins Tony.

It had given him some time to think, and right now, those few minutes are what he needs to get himself focused on Mohinder's problem. Every part of him wants to go check on his friend, but he knows better. Instead, he only goes down to the lab. "JARVIS, if you could bring up all of the information on the scans you have been able to gather."

"Certainly, Doctor." Bruce wonders if Tony managed to get SHIELD to release the amulet to them, or at least to put them into contact with whoever is or could be running scans on the item in the SHIELD labs.

What sort of person do you think Tony is? Of course he has the amulet, sitting upstairs in a safe container. Lead, weirdly enough, seems to work well as an insulator. It's given him some ideas on the Chitauri tech they've been poking at and it's radioactive components. When Bruce gets himself to the lab, with all of Mohinder's scans, he'll find a three-camera feed of the Indian plastered on the large white wall to the left of the door.

Mohinder looks restless, wandering around in soft black pants and a t-shirt, more alert than he'd been the last time they'd spoke. He scratches at an arm and lays his forehead against a wall before wandered into the hallway and down towards the small kitchen where he puts on a pot of water.

Bruce only watches Mohinder for a good minute or so, before sitting back in his chair with a sickened look on his face. "I'm a hypocrite," he whispers to himself. Here he is, locking someone away and treating them like a lab rat - the very thing he has terrible fears about. It leaves him uneasy, even if the prison is a fine one.

So he gets to work, burying himself into it. It might be a while before he resurfaces at all, Tony. Try to make sure your pet doctor eats.

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J: Ms. Potts already has guessed, sir.

/fistshake

<3

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