For Tony, the Avenger's Initiative came with it's own set of complex decisions and a whole lot of swallowed pride. He rarely spoke about the things that had happened before his awareness of it, but now he felt pretty content that the work they'd done for him, he'd repaid. His money went toward things he could never have hoped to do on his own, and he still had time and money and plans enough to work on his own home grown projects in the mean time.
That Bruce Banner had been called upon was not only a thrill, but an honour. He'd tested, sure - and even Tony had recognised that out of them all - they shared something the others could never have understood. Science did that. He had that much to thank it for.
Science and knowledge and experience. They thought alike, they understood the need to push the limits, and they were both products of their own misdeeds. Mind you, that much could be said for so many of the others, in their own - not so science-oriented ways.
Tony's frown eased up every time he successfully pried a tiny fragment of metal out of his friend's skin - depositing it in a little pile on the couch for lack of better implement. Maybe he should have fetched a bowl or something from the kitchen, but a magnet would just as easily get it up later.
Unless he threw caution to the wind, and himself at Bruce and they ended up with metal bits embedded in them all over again.
Slowly, he lifted his head to look Bruce in the eye - not quite able to hold his stare, gaze flitting across his face, trying to piece together the look, the words, the meaning.
no subject
That Bruce Banner had been called upon was not only a thrill, but an honour. He'd tested, sure - and even Tony had recognised that out of them all - they shared something the others could never have understood. Science did that. He had that much to thank it for.
Science and knowledge and experience. They thought alike, they understood the need to push the limits, and they were both products of their own misdeeds. Mind you, that much could be said for so many of the others, in their own - not so science-oriented ways.
Tony's frown eased up every time he successfully pried a tiny fragment of metal out of his friend's skin - depositing it in a little pile on the couch for lack of better implement. Maybe he should have fetched a bowl or something from the kitchen, but a magnet would just as easily get it up later.
Unless he threw caution to the wind, and himself at Bruce and they ended up with metal bits embedded in them all over again.
Slowly, he lifted his head to look Bruce in the eye - not quite able to hold his stare, gaze flitting across his face, trying to piece together the look, the words, the meaning.
"Are you coming on to me?"