Reading Time: 139 Minutes

Title: Even Perfect Strangers
Author: enigmaticblue
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Action Adventure, First Time, Hurt/Comfort, Science Fiction
Relationship(s): Bruce Banner/Tony Stark
Content Rating: NC-17
Warnings: *No Mandatory Warnings Apply.
Author Note: Inspired, in part, by the What If…? episode where Tony Stark lands on Sakaar.
Beta: thomasina75
Word Count: 83,104
Summary: Tony falls through a rip in space; two years later, he runs into someone both familiar and strange. Together, they might just find their way home—and save the universe in the process.
Artist: Twigen
Artist Appreciation: Many thanks to Twigen for the gorgeous cover art!

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Part IV: You Can’t Go Home Again

Space, Earth year circa 2018

Bruce blinks his eyes open and sighs as he realizes that he’s nearly naked. At least it’s only nearly naked, unlike last time. He’s also not in hot water—which he kind of misses—but when he rolls his head, he sees Tony lying next to him, head propped up on his hand.

“Hey,” Tony says. “I’ve already asked around. Clothes are going to be a little hard to find, but since you saved Asgard, we’ll come up with something.”

Bruce glances down and realizes that Tony has at least covered him with a blanket. “I don’t suppose there’s food. I can maintain, but—“

“Oh, ye of little faith,” Tony replies. “I have to commend the Kronian on his revolutionary skills. He had some plans for feeding the masses.”

“The Kronian—“ Bruce starts, then realizes who Tony is probably referring to. “Oh, you mean Korg. Is he Kronian?”

“Big dude who’s made of rocks?” Tony asks. “Yeah, that’s him.”

“His name is Korg,” Bruce says. “His friend’s name is Miek. Did they both make it?”

“They did,” Tony replies. “Korg thought Miek was dead for a minute, but I guess he was just hibernating? Hard to say when he looks like an overgrown pill bug.”

Bruce snorts. “Fair.”

There’s a knock at the door, and Tony gets up to answer it. “Hey.”

“We have clothing for Lord Banner, Lord Stark,” someone says in a high, young voice.

“Thank you for your assistance,” Tony says. “We very much appreciate it.”

“Anything for the saviors of Asgard and friends of the king,” the child—it has to be a child—says.

Tony steps away and lets the door close. “Well, that’s going to take some getting used to.”

He puts the clothing on the bed. “There’s a bathroom down the hall if you want to get cleaned up.”

“Right now, I just want to be dressed,” Bruce says.

Tony has seen everything he has, so Bruce rolls off the bed and pulls off the remaining tatters of the garments he’d worn to escape Sakaar. The clothing from the Asgardians is not all that different—just a pair of trousers, a tunic, and a belt. There’s also a pair of boots that are soft and clearly worn, but fit him well.

“Looks good on you,” Tony says with a flirtatious grin.

Bruce gives him a look. “You think everything looks good on me.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Tony says. “More experimentation is needed. I haven’t seen you in a tutu, for instance, but I would support you if you wanted to wear one. Lord knows I’ve seen people wearing weirder things.”

“No tutu,” Bruce says firmly.

“Maybe a kiss?” Tony asks.

Bruce doesn’t even have to think about it. He wants to feel at home in his skin again, and he wants to feel a human connection.

And maybe there’s a part of him that’s wanted to kiss Tony Stark for a long time.

He leans in, and Tony rests his hand on Bruce’s cheek, his thumb caressing his face, and Bruce presses his lips to Tony’s. He keeps the pressure light, but Tony soon deepens it.

Bruce leans into him, and the kiss is unhurried even as it gets more intense. He doesn’t feel the need to move it along or break it off.

He has no idea how long they just sit on the bed and make out. Bruce would say like teenagers, but they aren’t in a hurry to take their clothes off, so maybe it’s not an apt comparison.

Bruce wouldn’t know. He can’t remember making out with a hot guy—or girl—as a teenager.

When they finally break off the kiss, Tony presses his forehead to Bruce’s. “Do you know how long it’s been since I just made out with someone?”

“Surely not that long,” Bruce objects.

“I said just made out,” Tony replies. “I wasn’t celibate on Sakaar, but I didn’t have a connection with anyone.”

“Brunnhilde,” Bruce points out, because he knows they’re friends.

“I am fully in the friend zone and have been since minute one,” Tony assures him. “Pretty sure she prefers the fairer sex.”

“I thought you did, too,” Bruce says.

Tony shrugs, his expression rueful. “I try not to limit my options, and even if that weren’t true, I’d have gotten a lot more flexible on Sakaar, where it pays to not have a lot of scruples.”

“Hey,” Bruce says, sensing a sore spot. He brings Tony back in for a kiss. “You got us off Sakaar, and we saved all those people on Asgard. I won’t pretend to know what it was like for you, or what compromises you had to make to survive, but I can promise that I’m not going to judge you.”

“There are plenty of people who will,” Tony says softly.

Bruce laughs. “Who’s going to tell them? What happens on Sakaar stays on Sakaar, right?”

Tony smiles ruefully. “Yeah, I think the only one who might be able to tell tales is Brunnhilde, and she probably feels the same way you do.”

“You could always pay her off,” Bruce suggests.

Tony raises his eyebrows. “With what money?”

“Maybe there’s a clause or something for dealing with unexpected resurrections,” Bruce says. “Like, you get all your shit back if you save NYC from a nuke and wind up on an alien planet and then save a bunch of people from certain death.”

Tony laughs. “I doubt it, but I can certainly serve as the poster child if someone decides to create one. You want to go find some food?”

“That would be great,” Bruce admits. “I’m starving.”

They step into the hall, and there’s a boy standing in the hallway. “Lord Stark, Lord Banner, the king asked me to stand by to see that you had everything you needed.”

“Bruce is hungry,” Tony says. “Can you help us with that?”

“Of course, Lord Stark!” the boy says enthusiastically. “Right this way. I should have anticipated that.”

“No need,” Bruce assures him. “Just as long as I can get something to eat.”

The boy leads them down a long corridor, then turns the corner. “How do you know the ship so well already?” Bruce asks.

“I was a page at the palace, Lord Banner,” the boy says cheerfully. “The ship is comparatively easy.”

“You can call me Bruce,” he says. “What’s your name?”

“Isak, Lord Banner,” the boy says with a gap-toothed grin over his shoulder.

Tony chuckles. “Looks like you’re stuck with the title, Lord Banner.”

“If I am, so are you, Lord Stark,” Bruce shoots back, although he’s enjoying the exchange.

Tony’s grin suggests that he’s enjoying it as well. “I’ll live with it.”

Isak leads them to a room that looks like a small conference room of some sort. “I’ll have someone bring a meal, sirs.”

They sit down at a table, and Tony looks around. “Not exactly the location I would have chosen for a first date.”

“I thought our first date was in a hot tub,” Bruce replies. “Or maybe your workshop on Sakaar.”

“I’d hate for Sakaar to be the site of our first date,” Tony objects. “Here works, at least until we get to Earth. Brunnhilde would certainly insist we get a room.”

Bruce laughs. “Fair point.”

Isak returns with a tray laden with a loaf of bread, cheese, a jar of some kind of spread, and what looks like half a roast bird, as well as some sort of fruit.

Bruce glances at Tony, who waves at him to go ahead. “I’ll have a bite, but I’m okay.”

“There’s more food,” Isak assures them. “Korg said this ship was one the Grandmaster used to take supplies on and off his planet, and he made sure to grab one that had yet to be unloaded.”

“That’s a bit of luck,” Tony comments, popping a fruit into his mouth.

“Or good planning,” Bruce replies, slicing off a piece of the roast bird, a piece of bread, and some cheese, putting it together in a rough sandwich. “Korg struck me as someone who wasn’t leaving the revolution to chance in our brief acquaintance.”

The food is good, and Bruce’s hunger only seems to redouble after the first bite. Tony eats as well, but he seems to get most of his enjoyment out of watching Bruce.

Thankfully, Isak doesn’t stick around, but he does turn up just as they’re polishing off the meal.

“Sirs, the king would like to see you both on the bridge,” Isak says. “If you’re done eating.”

Bruce takes a deep breath. “I am for now.”

Isak leads them back through the ship to the bridge. Thor is sitting in the only chair available, and it looks like he’s been able to clean up and he’s wearing a metal patch over what Bruce assumes is a missing eye.

There are several other Asgardians standing around, including Brunnhilde and Loki, as well as Korg and his friend, Miek. Bruce assumes that the rest of the Asgardians have dispersed around the ship, judging by the clothing that had been scrounged on his behalf, as well as the food they’d been served.

Thor stands when he sees them, although Loki shoots a very disgruntled look in Bruce’s direction. “Were you able to get something to eat, Banner?”

“Isak was very helpful,” Bruce replies. “Thank you.”

Thor smiles briefly. “It would seem we have Korg to thank for the provisions.”

“I think I had something to do with that,” Loki objects, still glaring at Bruce. “And I might have been able to do more without the beast’s interference.”

Tony raises his eyebrows. “Don’t front, Reindeer Games. You were going to keep the Tesseract for yourself and leave the rest of us stranded on Asgard while it burned.”

Loki sends a shifty look in Thor’s direction. “I still helped liberate this ship, which saved our people.”

Korg’s expression is difficult to read, but there’s a skepticism in his voice as he says, “Loki was very helpful in distracting the guards.”

Miek chitters something.

“No, not as helpful as you,” Korg assures him. “But Miek and I know that you can’t fight a revolution on an empty stomach.”

The tall, dark-skinned man with golden eyes and dreadlocks snorts. He has a large sword sheathed on his back. “We were actually hoping that you might know something about an incoming vessel,” he says, looking at Tony.

Tony frowns. “What incoming vessel?”

“The sensors are picking up a large ship heading our direction,” Thor says. “Heimdall can see a lot, but in this case, we only know that the ship will cross our path within the next day. We know not what their intentions are.”

Tony glances at Brunnhilde, who shrugs. “It’s big, and it’s not one I’ve seen.”

Tony grimaces. “Unless it’s a Chitauri vessel, I’m not going to be much help. Other than this ship, the Grandmaster’s, and the Chitauri armada, I don’t have experience with alien vessels.”

“Are we sure it’s headed for us, or is it passing us on its way somewhere else?” Bruce asks. He’s not sure that the other guy is going to be much help in a space battle.

Thor shakes his head. “We don’t know for certain.”

“I cannot see their intentions,” Heimdall reiterates. “Only that they’ve adjusted their course to intersect ours.”

Bruce grimaces, because that seems to be a pretty clear indication that the aim has something to do with this vessel, whether that has to do with Thor, Loki, or maybe the remaining Asgardians, it’s impossible to say.

“Whatever is coming, we’ll deal with it,” Thor rumbles. “What else can we do? Heimdall, how much time do we have?”

Heimdall’s eyes glow bright orange. “Approximately 18 hours.”

“We should all get some rest,” Thor says.

Brunnehilde’s jaw firms up. “I’ll keep watch.”

Thor smiles slightly. “As you wish. Far be it from me to give an order to a Valkyrie.”

Her smile is sardonic. “Thank you, your majesty.”

“If you need assistance finding your quarters again, I’ve asked Isak to place himself at your disposal,” Thor says as they leave the bridge.

Heimdall has apparently elected to stay with Brunnhilde on the bridge, and Korg is wandering behind them with Miek tucked into the crook of his arm. Loki brings up the rear, and Bruce would guess that he’s pouting.

Based on what Tony said, though, Loki certainly didn’t need possession of the Tesseract, and with an item that powerful, maybe it’s best left in the fires of Ragnarok.

“The hospitality is appreciated,” Bruce says.

“My friends, you will be considered Asgardians as long as you live,” Thor replies. “You helped save my people. Even when we’re on Earth, you will have a place with us.”

Bruce knows that he’s blushing, and he detects a flush on Tony’s face, too. Maybe the Asgardians are wandering, but knowing that there are people who are going to be wandering with you and who are, in some way, your people, means a lot.

“Thank you, Thor,” Tony says quietly. “If you don’t mind, we’ll get some rest and leave you and your brother to get caught up.”

Thor gives them a knowing look. “I’ll send Isak to you if I need you sooner.”

He and Tony disappear inside their quarters, and Bruce thinks rather longingly of a shower.

“Come on,” Tony says. “We can at least get washed up real quick even if we don’t have clean clothes.”

The bathroom isn’t much, and there’s no running water, just a sonic shower.

“They say it gets you just as clean, but I’ve never felt that way,” Tony comments. “Still, better than nothing, and water is a precious resource in space.”

Bruce strips off and steps into the shower cubicle, and he can say that he’s not really a fan of the sonic shower. He finds it just a little bit uncomfortable, but he does feel cleaner once he’s done.

“It’s not nearly as satisfying,” Bruce laments.

“We’ll have to figure something out if we decide not to stay on Earth,” Tony says, taking his own turn, while Bruce pulls his clothes back on.

Bruce gives him a look. “Are we still thinking we might not stay?”

“I say we play it by ear,” Tony replies. “We like it there, we stay. We don’t, we take off again, but on our terms.”

Bruce smiles. “On our terms? I like the sound of that.”

“What do you say we go back to our room, make out for a while, and catch about 12 hours of sleep?” Tony suggests.

“I would say you’re a genius,” Bruce replies. “Because that sounds the best idea I’ve heard in a while.”

~~~~~

Tony wakes up warm and comfortable. He and Bruce had stripped down to their pants, since apparently aliens don’t believe in pajamas, and neither of them were willing to risk being caught bare-assed in an emergency.

Bruce is curled up next to him, close but not touching, although he throws off heat like a furnace. They had made out for probably a leisurely half hour before turning in, and then it had just been to sleep.

And then Bruce rolls over into Tony’s space, his hand landing on Tony’s chest, just below the arc reactor. Tony hasn’t allowed anyone this close in a long time, not even his bed partners on Sakaar.

Bruce suddenly stiffens. “Sorry.”

Tony puts his hand over Bruce’s. “Nope. No apologies.”

Bruce relaxes all at once. “I feel like we’re careening to the next emergency.”

“Probably,” Tony says. “It’s how we met, isn’t it? Maybe we should take a vacation after this.”

“And where are we going to take that vacation?” Bruce asks, teasing.

“Eh, maybe Pepper will let me borrow one of my own houses,” Tony jokes.

Bruce sighs. “We should probably get dressed and get something to eat before the next emergency hits.”

“Sure, we can put off fucking until we know what this big ass ship wants,” Tony says.

“You say that like it’s a joke, but I want to take our time,” Bruce replies.

Tony presses a quick, hard kiss to his lips. “Deal.”

They pull on the rest of their clothes, and they find Isak waiting outside their room. “Have you been here long, kid?” Tony asks.

Isak shrugs. “The king asked me to be at your disposal.”

“I really feel like asking if he shouldn’t be in school right now,” Bruce mutters under his breath.

“Oh, I have my lessons at other times of the day, Lord Banner,” Isak assures him. “My mother tells me that she can forgive me for many things, but not ignorance.”

“Your mother is a very smart lady,” Tony replies.

Isak shepherds them to the same place they’d eaten dinner the previous day, and they soon have food in front of them.

“Do you miss coffee?” Bruce asks suddenly.

“So much,” Tony admits immediately. “It’s been years, though, so I can mostly block it out. Why do you ask?”

Bruce shrugs. “It just struck me that there’s no coffee.”

“Yeah, I’ve had a lot of those moments,” Tony replies. “You find yourself humming along just fine, and then something will strike you out of the blue. Like coffee. Or American cheeseburgers. I miss those.”

Bruce looks thoughtful. “I wouldn’t mind a nice cup of tea right now, or a chai.”

“Hm, maybe when we get back to Earth, we can hunt down both,” Tony says.

Isak appears next to their table. “Sirs, the king says the ship is approaching faster than expected, and he would appreciate your presence on the bridge.”

Tony stands, shoving the last bite of breakfast in his mouth. “Lead on.”

There’s a hum of activity on the ship. People have settled in, and they seem to be staying busy. As they follow Isak down the corridors towards the bridge, they pass Asgardians carrying bundles and boxes.

“Is everyone busy?” Bruce asks.

Isak nods. “We all know that we will have to work hard to make a new home for ourselves. Everyone has a job.” He grins. “That’s why the king assigned me to assist you.”

He stops outside the bridge doors. “I haven’t been given permission to be on the bridge, but I’ll be here if you need me.”

“Thank you, Isak,” Bruce says quietly.

They enter the bridge, and Thor is standing by the window, looking out into space. Loki is pacing next to him, and Tony gets the sense that maybe the ship isn’t as unfamiliar to Loki as he’s been pretending. He’s acting a little too nervous for complete ignorance.

Brunnhilde is eyeing Loki in a way that tells Tony that she’s picking up on the same signals. Heimdall’s eyes are glowing orange, and Korg is watching everyone with Miek.

Tony wonders why Korg is there, but he figures it’s Thor’s call. He’s the king, and he’s in charge, so he can have whoever he wants on the bridge.

“What the hell do they want?” Thor asks, sounding worried.

Heimdall shakes his head. “Unknown.”

“They’re scanning us now,” Brunnhilde says, looking at an instrument panel. “I can’t tell what they’re looking for, though.”

Tony can feel the tension, so thick he could have cut it with a knife.

“Have they answered our hails?” Thor asks.

Brunnhilde shakes her head. “No response, your majesty.”

“And they haven’t tried hailing us?” Thor asks.

She shakes her head, so they just wait for a long few minutes.

“Loki, is there anything you’d like to share with us?” Thor rumbles, clearly wise to Loki’s schemes.

Loki shakes his head. “No, brother. I assure you, I don’t know what they’re looking for any more than you do.”

That doesn’t fully answer the question, and the look Thor shoots Loki demonstrates he knows that full well.

Bruce moves a little closer to Tony, pressing their shoulders together, and he leans into Bruce in turn.

And then the ship starts to move away without any warning. One moment it’s looming before them, and the next, it’s moving away at a fast clip.

“Where is it going?” Thor asks.

Brunnhilde shakes her head. “From the instrumentation, it could be a number of planets.”

“Midgard,” Heimdall says. “I saw the headings.”

The ship is already out of sight, moving more quickly than Tony expects.

“How quickly can we get there?” Thor asks before Tony can.

Brunnhilde grimaces. “Not quickly enough. We can try to catch up, but we won’t be able to provide a warning. At best, we can provide support once we do arrive.”

Heimdall’s eyes turn from orange to golden. “There’s another way we can provide a warning, if someone is willing to be a messenger.”

“I cannot,” Thor says. “As much as I would like to, I have to remain with my people.”

Tony clears his throat. “You have two other Avengers here, you know. You could send us.”

Thor turns to Heimdall. “Can you send both of them?”

Heimdall nods. “Via the rainbow bridge, yes.”

“But maybe we should ask your brother who’s on that ship first, just so we have all the information,” Tony says, giving Loki a hard look.

Thor turns to his brother. “Brother? What do you have to say for yourself?”

Loki’s expression is blank. “I have no idea what you mean.”

“You know more than you’re saying,” Thor rumbles. “You forget, I know you well. I know when you’re hiding something.”

“It’s Thanos,” Loki finally says when it’s clear that Thor isn’t going to let him off the hook. “He’s the one behind the Chitauri invasion. He’s been seeking items of power for as long as I’ve known him.”

Bruce’s eyes narrow. “‘Items of power’ like the Tesseract you tried to take off Asgard?”

“We don’t know that he wanted the Tesseract,” Loki says defensively.

Tony snorts. “We know that he wanted something, and that he apparently realized he wasn’t going to find it here—thanks to Bruce.”

“Where are the other items that he’s looking for?” Thor demands.

“Truly, I do not know,” Loki protests. “But he wished me to invade the Earth for a reason, and he’s heading there now. I would imagine that there are others. You don’t understand. Thanos goes from planet to planet, killing half of all life he finds. He’s a madman, and having items of such power will only make it easier for him to carry out his aims.”

“Which is to kill half of all life?” Bruce asks incredulously.

Loki just stares at the floor, refusing to answer.

“Then we definitely need to warn them,” Tony says, turning to Bruce. “What do you say?”

Bruce closes his eyes, and Tony can see the warring emotions on his face. Finally, he sighs and meets Tony’s gaze. “I’m with you.”

Tony rests a hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “Nothing is going to happen to you with me there. Pretty sure surprise resurrection trumps the Hulk.”

That actually makes Bruce chuckle. “You may have a point.”

“We’ll be there as soon as we can,” Thor promises. “Be careful, my friends.”

“You, too,” Tony replies, and holds out a hand for Bruce.

Bruce takes his hand, intertwining their fingers. “I guess we’re doing this. Sooner than expected.”

“Hot shower,” Tony murmurs. “Chai. Coffee. Hamburgers. Pizza.” He pauses. “Shwarma.”

Bruce shoots him a look. “Shwarma?”

Tony shrugs. “I don’t know. I’ve always wanted to to try it.” He turns to Heimdall. “I’m going to need my armor.”

Heimdall. “Do you want to wear it, or do you want it sent along later? You can let me know when it’s safe to do so.”

There’s a part of Tony that would love to wear the armor, and another part of him that says he needs to exercise caution, especially since he’ll have Bruce with him. Painting a target on their backs immediately seems unwise, at least until they can get the lay of the land.

After all, it’s been years since either of them were on the planet.

“If you can send it along later, I’d appreciate it,” Tony says.

Heimdall’s solemn expression almost breaks. “Consider it done, Lord Stark. Just call for your armor when you need it.”

And that’s when Heimdall activates the rainbow bridge.

Tony has taken LSD before, and the experiences could be compared. It’s a lot of bright, swirling colors and feeling as though he’s on the worst roller coaster he’s ever been on.

When they land, it takes Tony a minute to recognize that they’re in Central Park. Bruce is pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes, clearly trying to recover his equilibrium. They’ve been dumped onto a running trail, and Tony doesn’t see anyone else around right now.

“You okay?” Tony asks.

Bruce straightens. “Yeah. Mostly. Fuck.”

“I just realized that we didn’t think this through,” Tony admits. “I have no idea who to call.”

Bruce gives him a look. “Pepper?”

“I don’t know her number,” Tony admits. “I had Jarvis and Pepper for that. The only number I have memorized is Happy’s, and he’s not going to be of much help in the time we have.”

Bruce laughs helplessly. “Well, I guess we just have to hope that Nick Fury has managed to keep his promise from beyond the grave.”

“You have a number we can call?” Tony asks.

“I have it memorized,” Bruce replies. “Not that it did me any good the one time I tried, but that was right after SHIELD fell. Maybe it’s different now.”

Tony grimaces. “Fuck. I don’t have any money.”

Bruce glances up and starts laughing. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. Just follow my lead, okay?”

“I’m in your hands,” Tony says. “You were here most recently.”

Bruce hauls him in for a quick, hard kiss just as a young man with dreadlocks passes them on the paved trail. When Bruce releases Tony, he turns to the young man. “Hey, man, I’m so sorry to bother you, but could I borrow your phone real quick? My boyfriend and I were at a dress rehearsal, and our ride took off with our bags.”

The man stares at Bruce, then at Tony, then glances up, and there’s a dawning recognition on his face. “Wow. I think you might be the best one I’ve ever seen.”

Tony opens his mouth to ask “the best what?” but Bruce nudges him, hard. “That’s his day job,” Bruce says. “But yeah, he’s great, isn’t he?”

“Really impressive,” the young man replies. “But yeah, sure. As long as it’s not an international call.”

Bruce laughs. “It’s not. It wouldn’t do us much good since we’re here, and we kind of need to know where our ride went.”

The young man laughs. “Yeah, sure.” He pulls a phone out of his pocket, types in the passcode, and hands it to Bruce.

Bruce shoots him a quick grin, and Tony has no idea what to make of all of this. Granted, he doesn’t know Bruce all that well. Tony knows what was in his SHIELD dossier, and he’s spent maybe three days in total with Bruce when he’s not the Hulk.

Bruce in most other circumstances is retiring, hunched in. Right now, though, he’s—someone else.

Bruce is holding the phone to his ear, and the young man says, “Hey, man, I’m Dwayne.”

Tony realizes that’s an invitation to introduce himself, and he’s getting the sense that Bruce wants to keep their real identities quiet. He goes with a version of his middle name instead. “Eddie.”

“You look a lot like him, you know,” Dwayne says, glancing up.

Tony turns around to see what Bruce and Dwayne keep looking at, and he realizes that they’re standing next to a statue of him in his Iron Man armor. There’s even a plaque naming him the savior of Manhattan.

“Ah, yeah, well,” Tony says, and he leans into his time on Sakaar, pretending to feel things he doesn’t feel. “Struggling actors, you know? We still have to find a way to make the rent even when the gigs aren’t great.”

“No kidding,” Dwayne agrees. “I ended up going back to college after years of trying to make it. More power to you.”

Tony laughs. “Funny how random things in your life let you practice your acting skills, right?”

Dwayne laughs, too. “Like when your girlfriend—or boyfriend—asks you if they look fat?”

“Like that,” Tony says.

Bruce gets off the phone and hands it back to Dwayne. “Thanks for that. I really appreciate it.”

“Hey, I get it,” Dwayne says. “We all need a little help from time to time. The kindness of strangers, right? Sometimes it’s all that’s standing between us and chaos.”

He almost sounds like he’s quoting someone, but Tony doesn’t ask.

“Exactly that,” Bruce says. “Even in a city like New York.”

“Especially in NYC,” Dwayne replies. “Is your friend coming back?”

Bruce shakes his head. “No, we’ll have to go pick up our stuff from his place.”

Dwayne pulls his wallet out of his pocket and hands a ten dollar bill to Tony. “I’d have given you a tip if I’d seen you. You look exactly like Tony Stark.”

Tony takes the money, because they’re going to have to get wherever they’re going somehow, and Tony would rather not his first reappearance on the news be for jumping a turnstile.

“Thanks,” Tony says. “We appreciate the help.”

“Just pay it forward,” Dwayne says.

“You got it,” Bruce assures him. “But seriously, thank you. You’re a life saver. Pretty much literally.”

He pulls Tony away, and says, “There’s a safe house Barton has here in the city. There’s no one to come get us, so we’ll have to get there on our own.”

“And how were we going to do that without Dwayne’s generous donation?” Tony asks.

Bruce shrugs. “I’ve hopped a turnstile before, but I’m glad it wasn’t necessary. Besides, before they chased me off the planet, there were multiple occasions where I relied on the kindness of strangers.”

They manage to find an exit from the park, and then the nearest subway station. With the money Dwayne gave Tony, they can easily pay their fare, and they only have to wait a few minutes until their subway car arrives.

Tony is still stuck on the fact that there was a statue of him in Central Park, and the fact that Dwayne had assumed he was some sort of Tony Stark impersonator. He’d been standing right under a statue of himself and hadn’t been recognized.

Of course, why would he be? The whole world thinks he died redirecting the nuke, and that had been years ago.

“You okay?” Bruce asks as they ride the subway from Manhattan to Bed-Stuy.

Tony shakes his head. “I’m fine. It’s just a little weird.”

“Seeing a statue of yourself?” Bruce murmurs.

Tony snorts. “And not being recognized.”

“People see what they expect to see,” Bruce points out. “And no one expects to see a dead man.”

“I know that,” Tony admits. “But it’s a little different experiencing it up close and personal.” He pauses. “You didn’t say who answered the phone.”

“Natasha Romanoff,” Bruce replies. “She’s with Rogers but wouldn’t say where exactly, just that they’d meet us at Barton’s safe house.”

Tony frowns. “How long?”

“She said they’d hurry, but I don’t know what that means,” Bruce replies. “I didn’t want to keep her on the phone too long.”

Tony nods. “It was a piece of luck that she even answered.”

“I know,” Bruce says. “We really didn’t think this through.”

“What else could we have done?” Tony asks, feeling the sway of the subway car under his feet. “It’s not like Thor would have American dollars or a cell phone, and we had to warn people somehow. At least, we had to try.”

Bruce sighs. “True enough.”

The subway ride takes about 40 minutes, and they get out in Bed-Stuy. They pass both a hotdog and a halal cart on their way to the apartment building where Natasha had directed Bruce, and Tony makes a mental note, because while he’s not hungry right now, he has a list of things he wants to eat now that he’s back on Earth.

Tony doesn’t know Bed-Stuy well, but Bruce doesn’t have a problem stopping someone to ask for directions, which he does at least twice. This being New York, no one even blinks at their outfits, or gives Tony a second look.

Finally, they’re in front of a pre-war, brick apartment building, and Bruce looks at the intercom, pressing one of the buttons after a moment’s hunt.

The door buzzes in a few moments as it unlocks, and Bruce pulls it open. They climb several flights of stairs, and Bruce knocks three times on a door marked only with the letter “H.”

The door opens almost immediately, and the stocky man Tony had only caught glimpses of is standing right there. “Jesus,” Barton mutters, his blue eyes going wide. “Come on in.”

Tony follows Bruce inside, and Barton closes the door behind them. “Natasha said, but I wasn’t sure I believed her.”

“She didn’t seem surprised when I called,” Bruce says.

Barton shrugs. He’s dressed casually in jeans and a purple t-shirt. “Fury told Nat he only gave that number to one person. After SHIELD fell, and everything settled down, he gave it to her, and said to answer it if you ever called. He said he had a promise he needed to keep.”

He gives them a once-over. “Do you want something to drink? I don’t keep much here, but I have a couple bottles of water.”

“That would be great,” Bruce replies.

Tony nods. “Yes, please.”

Barton opens the battered old fridge door and pulls out a couple of bottles of water. “Everyone thought you were dead,” he comments, looking at Tony.

“Yeah, I got that,” Tony says dryly. “Heimdall beamed us here right in front of the statue of me in Central Park. He might actually have a sense of humor, all evidence to the contrary.”

Barton frowns. “That’s one of the Asgardians, right? The one that transports people with the bridge thing? I was on the original op with Coulson the first time Thor was on Earth.”

“That’s the one,” Tony confirms.

“So, were you on Asgard this whole time?” Barton asks.

Tony shakes his head. “If I had been, I could have come back a lot sooner. I got stuck on a planet called Sakaar. We didn’t escape until a few days ago.”

Barton twists the cap off his own bottle, and he says, “That sounds like a story. I’d press for details, but Nat and Steve will be here in about an hour, so it can probably wait.” Barton gives them both a sharp look. “Can it wait an hour?”

“Maybe that long,” Bruce says. “We have an incoming alien vessel. We’re not sure of their intention, but we know it’s not good.”

Barton shakes his head, saying sarcastically, “Wow. A whole six years between alien invasions.”

Tony shrugs and takes a seat on the threadbare armchair. “The ship we were on wasn’t going to be able to keep pace, so Bruce and I took a shortcut.”

“Ah, hell,” Barton mutters. “Well, I guess we have a little time to marshal our forces.”

“Where are Romanoff and Rogers?” Bruce asks.

Barton hesitates. “I guess it doesn’t hurt to tell you. There was a powered person causing havoc in Philly. Nat and Cap took Barnes to go deal with them.”

Bruce glances at Tony, a question in his eyes. Tony shrugs, because Barton says that like they should know who Barnes is.

“Barnes?” Bruce prompts.

Barton blows out an audible breath. “I forgot you wouldn’t know. Yeah, turns out you’re not the only resurrection in the last six years. Cap’s childhood best friend everyone thought died in 1944—turns out that he got captured by Hydra and used as a brainwashed assassin. It was a whole thing.”

Tony knows six years have passed here; he’s not sure how much time had passed for him on Sakaar. The Grandmaster liked to say that time passed differently there, but Tony has no real way of knowing whether or not that’s true.

He still feels a sense of dislocation, though. So much has happened, and Tony has missed all of it.

Tony needs a distraction. “Is there a place where I could have my armor delivered?”

“Is it going to bust through the roof?” Barton asks. “Because if not, that’s probably the best spot.”

“I’ll go up to the roof then, if you could point me in the right direction,” Tony says. Bruce half-stands, but Tony just shakes his head. “I need to catch my breath, and I need the armor.”

Bruce settles back down. “Okay.”

“Just take the stairs all the way up,” Barton says. “If you’re still up there when the others arrive, I’ll holler at you.”

Tony follows Barton’s instructions and finds himself on a flat surface, and based on the scattered chairs, it’s probably used as a gathering place.

He tips his head back to look at the sky, which is a clear blue. The smell is pure New York City, and Tony realizes that it seems strange not to smell the trash heaps. It’s late spring or maybe early summer here; Tony isn’t sure, but he thinks it’s been almost six years exactly since the Chitauri invasion.

“Heimdall,” Tony says, feeling a little stupid for talking to the air. “You can send my armor now. Just—set it down gently, please.”

Tony sees the tunnel of rainbow light, and then his armor is on the roof. It’s in a pile still, and Tony gets a sudden urge. He thinks about it, and the armor forms around him.

He wants nothing more than to take off and fly over the city, get reacquainted, but instead he sends the armor back into its pile.

Tony figures that his return is going to get out sooner or later, but he doesn’t need to announce his presence, not when they don’t know how people are going to react, and not when they have a possible alien invasion.

He has no idea how long he stands there, under a sun both familiar and alien, when he hears footsteps behind him.

“Romanoff called,” Bruce says softly. “They’re five minutes out.” He pauses. “I see Heimdall had no problem delivering the armor.”

“I already tried it on,” Tony replies. “It works just like it’s supposed to.”

Bruce wraps an arm around Tony’s waist, and he returns the favor by wrapping an arm around Bruce’s shoulders. “Is this as weird for you as it is for me?”

“Since I don’t live in your head, I have no idea,” Tony replies. “But yeah, it’s weird.”

Bruce takes a deep breath. “You ready to go back down?”

“Might as well,” Tony mutters. “I hope the others have a better idea than I do for how we’re going to respond if that ship comes knocking on our door.”

Bruce begins to lead the way to the stairwell. “They should, since neither of us have any idea as to what sort of defense we can mount this time, and SHIELD no longer exists.”

“Hm,” Tony says thoughtfully.

“You disagree?” Bruce asks.

“Oh, I’m sure it fell,” Tony replies. “You said as much. But did it stay fallen, or did they regroup?”

Bruce’s expression is thoughtful. “Barton did say that Fury gave Natasha the phone number.”

The hallway is somewhat dingy with its faded paint and scarred walls, but Tony thinks it feels homey, and certainly not like the pompous grandiosity of the Grandmaster’s tower. Bruce knocks briefly on the door, then lets them both inside.

Barton is sprawled out on his couch, with Natasha sitting on the other end, looking much the same as Tony remembers. Her hair is longer and pulled back in a braid, and she’s wearing nondescript jeans, a t-shirt, and a canvas jacket.

She stands as they enter, and says, “Nice to see you in one piece, Dr. Banner.” She pauses as she looks past Bruce. “You, too, Tony.”

Tony shrugs. “It was touch and go here and there at times, but we made it.”

Steve is standing by the window with another man that Tony doesn’t recognize, although he assumes it’s the mysterious Barnes. Steve’s hair is also longer, and he has a full beard. He’s dressed similarly to Natasha, as is Barnes.

“Stark,” Steve says evenly. “It’s good to see you again.”

Tony hitches a shoulder, although there’s a part of him that wants to say that he doubts that. It wouldn’t be a fair comment, though, and they have enough to do without Tony picking a fight. “Likewise.”

Steve’s eyes narrow, but he just turns to the man standing next to him. “This is Bucky Barnes. Buck, Tony Stark and Dr. Bruce Banner.”

Barnes has long, dark hair and a full beard, and he’s wearing a leather jacket, in spite of the warmth of the day. Tony can see a glint of metal between the glove he’s wearing on his left hand and the sleeve. Barnes doesn’t say anything, just gives a quick nod.

“Barton said there was an emergency,” Steve says after a moment where no one seems to want to break the silence.

Tony looks at Bruce, because he’s not even sure where to begin. Bruce sits down on one of the threadbare recliners.

“We went to Asgard with Thor to rescue his people, who were under threat,” Bruce says succinctly. “We were able to save most of the people, but not Asgard itself. We were on our way here when a large ship approached us, scanned us, and then left without any sort of communication. Heimdall thought it was headed here. Thor’s ship couldn’t keep pace, so Heimdall sent us here to warn you.”

Steve frowns. “You don’t know what they want or when they’ll be here?”

Tony shakes his head. “Loki recognized the ship as belonging to an alien named Thanos, who was the one behind the Chitauri invasion.”

Bruce clears his throat and adds, “Loki attempted to take the Tesseract off Asgard, but the Hulk stopped him, and it’s likely been destroyed. Loki said Thanos is collecting these items of power, though, and he thought there might be at least one here.”

Tony picks up the thread of the story again. “So, we think Thanos is after other items like the Tesseract, but we have no idea whether Loki is right about there being any here, or where they would be if they are.”

“What good is that information then?” Barnes mutters.

“Buck,” Steve says, a warning in his voice. “Forewarned is still forearmed, and we have a few contacts we can call. If something is coming, they should get an alert.”

Natasha makes a thoughtful noise. “I’ll start making phone calls. Wakanda has the technology, so I’ll start there.”

“I’ve already called Fury,” Barton offers. “He’s working his contacts, too.” He gives Steve a look, the significance of which Tony doesn’t understand. “Cards on the table, Cap.”

Steve grimaces. “Yeah, I get it.” He sighs audibly. “How much did Bruce tell you about the fall of SHIELD?”

“That it fell?” Tony hazards.

Bruce shrugs. “I didn’t have a lot of details beyond what made it into the newspaper.”

“Everything got dumped on the internet,” Barton says, his tone a warning, as he holds his hand over the bottom of his cell phone. “Just a reminder.”

Barnes rolls his eyes. “What Stevie is having a hard time telling you is that I was a brainwashed assassin who killed a lot of people.”

“Yeah, Barton mentioned that,” Tony says. “I’m assuming you’re no longer brainwashed.”

Steve rubs his eyes.

“Rip the bandaid off already,” Barnes mutters.

“Bucky was the Winter Soldier, and the Winter Soldier killed your parents,” Steve says baldly.

Tony blinks, trying to process that information. “My parents died in a car wreck.”

“I’m sorry, Tony, but Hydra wanted Howard Stark dead, and your mom happened to be there,” Steve says gently. “I didn’t—I had no idea you were still alive, but we’ve all had surprises bite us in the ass. We agreed that there wouldn’t be any secrets like that on the team going forward.”

Tony is just stuck. “But everyone said my parents died in a car wreck.”

Then it’s almost like his brain reboots, incorporating that information. “My dad was a founding member of SHIELD. They targeted him.”

“If it makes you feel any better, they mostly targeted those who would make a positive difference in the world,” Steve says.

Bruce gets up and places a hand in the center of Tony’s back. “Are you okay?”

Tony closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. “No. I’m not, but I haven’t been okay for a long time, and it’s fine. I’m fine.”

He opens his eyes, and looks straight into Barnes’ eyes. “Are you still brainwashed?”

“No,” Barnes replies. “The King of Wakanda helped me with that. Do you want an apology?”

Tony thinks about it for a moment, and then he shakes his head. “No. Maybe eventually, but not right now. Right now, I’m going to forget about it, because I think we’re about to get real busy.”

Tony has become really good at compartmentalizing over the last few years, and he’s going to use the hell out of that skill right now.

Barnes nods. “Okay.”

Natasha finishes her call, and she says, “You were right. The ship is at the edge of our solar system. King T’Challa thinks we might have a few hours at best.”

Tony cracks his neck. “Like I said. No time. I have a suit of armor, but that’s about all I have right now.”

“We’ve got you,” Steve says. “We’ll get it figured out.”

And there’s some part of Tony that actually believes him.

~~~~~

When Tony says he needs some air, Bruce half-stands, intending on going with him, but a quick, decisive shake of Tony’s head has him sitting back down. Tony essentially flees the apartment, leaving Bruce alone with Barton.

Bruce knows that Tony is reeling, and has been since they landed back on Earth. For Bruce, there had at least been the understanding that he’d left the planet of his own accord, because there hadn’t been a place left for him here.

Tony hadn’t meant to leave, hadn’t wanted to leave, and his life had basically been cut short or put on hold, depending on how you looked at it.

Barton leans forward, his forearms resting on his thighs. “Nat told me a bit about what happened. She knew you’d called and didn’t get an answer, or Fury knew and told her, I’m not sure.”

Bruce shakes his head. “It worked out in the long run.”

“Yeah, but still, we all feel like we failed you guys,” Barton says bluntly. “Maybe not Stark as much, because we thought he was dead, but he also died for us. They chased you off the planet. We weren’t much of a team.”

Bruce laughs. “We were never much of a team. We were a time bomb.”

Barton’s expression is rueful. “Maybe, but we’ve had a chance to become better. Is Stark okay?”

Bruce hitches a shoulder. “Sakaar was—I think it was hard. I was the Other Guy most of the time I was there, so I don’t have a lot of memories of the place. Besides, I didn’t leave much behind when I left Earth. Tony did.”

Barton nods. “Yeah, that really must be a mind fuck.”

“How are you doing?” Bruce asks.

Barton laughs. “Yeah, well, I spent a few months on my farm in Iowa with my family to get my head back on straight, but I’m okay now. It was your luck I was even in town.”

“Why weren’t you with them?” Bruce asks curiously. He hopes there’s no judgment in his tone. He just wants to get the lay of the land.

Barton doesn’t seem to take any offense. “Cap said they had it in hand, so I came in mostly to provide backup in case it was needed. Plus, one of my kids had a thing yesterday, and my wife would have killed me if I had missed it without a damn good reason.”

Bruce’s conversation skills are rusty. He knows he should probably make small talk, ask a few questions, but he’s not sure where to start. Brunnhilde isn’t interested in small talk, and Bruce has always found it easy to talk to Tony.

Still, he asks, “How many kids do you have?” because he feels as though it’s expected.

Barton’s face lights up, and he pulls out his phone. “Three, a girl and two boys.”

Bruce wanted what Barton has at one point in his life, although he knows it’s a pipe dream now. He has to admire the pictures of Barton’s pretty wife and adorable kids, though, and it’s an easy way to pass the time until Natasha calls and says they’re five minutes out.

“I’ll go get Tony,” Bruce says.

Bruce feels like he’s a little more on solid ground in Tony’s presence. He’s not sure whether that’s a holdover from the Hulk spending so much time with him, or if he and Tony just had an instant connection that defies explanation.

He needs that, especially knowing he’ll be seeing Natasha and Steve again. Bruce doesn’t resent them, not really, not when he’d been able to help Tony and Thor, and save Thor’s people.

But there had been a lot of years where he’d been hunted. They hadn’t been able to to help him then, and there’s a part of him that does resent them for that, whether or not that’s fair.

And then Steve decides to drop the bombshell about Tony’s parents, and Bruce finds he has an entirely new reason to resent him.

Tony looks gutted for a moment as the import of Steve’s words sink in, and Tony realizes that his parents were murdered. Then Tony seems to pull himself together and his expression goes blank.

He’s certainly not as okay as he claims, but Tony is right about them being busy, since Natasha announces the arrival of the ship in their solar system.

“Where do you think they’ll hit first?” Natasha asks urgently as she ends her call.

“Like I said, I don’t know,” Tony protests. “If Thanos is looking for items of power, I have no idea where they’d be.”

“I know who we need to talk to next then,” Barton comments. “If anyone has an idea, it would be him.”

Tony frowns. “Him, who?”

“The Sorcerer Supreme,” Natasha says. “And lucky for us, he’s right here in the city.”

Tony grimaces in clear distaste. “Please tell me you’re joking about this sorcerer thing.”

“I wish,” Barton mutters. “We’ve got aliens, we’ve got wizards, and I’m just waiting for the day when we get killer robots, because that will be the icing on the shit sundae.”

“All right,” Steve says. “Natasha, take Banner with you.”

Tony makes a sound of protest. “Wait a minute.”

“Can you get into the suit if it’s not right there with you?” Steve asks with a raised eyebrow.

Tony mutters a curse under his breath, but says, “No.”

“Okay, so you can get into the suit and join them at Strange’s place,” Steve replies patiently. “It’s at 177A Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village.”

“Right, okay,” Tony says. “I guess I’ll go get into the suit and visit a wizard, and I really hate that I just said that.”

Tony does give Bruce a quick, hard kiss on the lips as he heads back up to the roof.

Bruce is left with three people staring at him and Barnes looking bored.

“Okay, I would not have called that,” Barton says.

“I would have,” Natasha replies.

Steve holds out a hand and makes a so-so gesture. “I’m not sure I would have called it, but I’m also not terribly surprised.”

“Let’s go, Romeo,” Natasha says with a smirk. “Clint?”

“I’ll get my bike and meet you guys there,” Barton replies. “Right after I call Laura and tell her that I might be a little later than anticipated.”

“Give her my apologies,” Natasha says with a sympathetic smile. “She’ll probably take it better coming from me.”

Barton snorts. “You’re not wrong about that.”

Bruce figures out what Steve had meant about Natasha taking him once they’re out on the street and he sees the three motorcycles. “Oh, well, why not?” Bruce mutters. “I was on a spaceship, I rode a beam of light, so a motorcycle is nothing.”

“Are you scared of a motorcycle, Dr. Banner?” Natasha asks, clearly amused.

“No, not scared,” Bruce replies. “But I don’t love the idea of crashing and going green.”

Natasha smiles. “I’ll get us there in one piece. You just have to hold on.”

“Right, well, this won’t even be the weirdest thing that’s happened today,” Bruce says.

He feels a little awkward getting on the bike behind her, dressed like someone going to a Ren Fair, but Bruce is apparently on track for attempting to save two planets in as many days.

He just hopes that he’s a little more successful this time around.

They pull up in front of a truly impressive townhouse, and Bruce tips his head back to get the full measure. “Well, fuck.”

“That about sums it up,” Natasha says. “But we have another alien invasion, Dr. Banner, so we’re up.”

“Call me Bruce,” he says. “It’s our second alien invasion together. I think we should be on a first name basis, Agent Romanoff.”

“Natasha,” she corrects him. “You’re right. Sorry no one answered your call.”

Bruce shrugs. “You were a little busy at the time. I get it.”

“Fury made you a promise that he couldn’t keep,” Natasha replies, “and he passed that promise along to me.”

Bruce takes a deep breath. “Yeah. Thank you. I—that means a lot. Because I’ve apparently been the Hulk for years, and I’m not used to interacting with—anyone.”

Steve and Barnes pull up and park. “Fair warning, Strange can come on kind of strong,” Natasha says.

“Let’s go see the wizard, I guess,” Bruce mutters.

“The wonderful wizard of Oz?” Steve jokes. “Because I get that reference.”

Bruce chuckles at that, remembering Steve’s pleasure at getting a reference when they’d been on the helicarrier, too.

The front door to 177A Bleecker Street swings open as they approach, and Bruce hears a sound coming from above them. He glances up, and Tony flies in, landing on the front steps. “I take it this is the place.”

“This is the place,” Steve confirms.

The foyer of the house is bigger and grander than Bruce expects, with a large staircase, and a round window above it, letting in the late afternoon light. The man coming down those stairs to meet them is wearing trousers and a tunic that isn’t all that different from what Bruce and Tony are wearing, along with a red cape that seems to move of its own accord.

“Well, well, well,” he says, an eyebrow quirking. “To what do I owe the dubious honor of this visit?”

“Dr. Strange, good to see you again,” Steve says evenly.

Tony remains in his armor, and Bruce gives him a look, but Tony just retracts his helmet. His expression is impassive, and Bruce can’t tell how he’s feeling.

“I wish I could say the same, but you always bring trouble to my door,” Strange says in a deep, cultured voice.

“You say that like trouble doesn’t follow you around,” Barton replies.

Strange shrugs gracefully as he looks at Bruce, and then at Tony. “I see you brought two long-lost Avengers with you.”

“There’s an incoming threat,” Natasha says bluntly. “Seeking items of power, along the same lines as the Tesseract we told you about.”

Strange’s hand drifts to the amulet hanging around his neck. There’s a green glint beneath the gold filigree, and Bruce suspects that Strange knows exactly what they’re talking about.

“We know the location of the Tesseract,” Tony says, “and it’s pretty far out of Thanos’ reach, since it was destroyed along with Asgard.”

“I know the location of another,” Strange admits, and he holds the amulet up for them to see. “But destroying it is not an option. I’ve sworn on my life to protect the Eye of Agamotto.”

Bruce has no intention of arguing with the man. It doesn’t feel as though it’s his place, since he barely knows the players. If there’s one thing they do know, though, it’s that Thanos is likely to turn up here to go after the amulet hanging around Strange’s neck.

“It would be easier if we could just destroy it,” Steve argues.

“Easier, maybe, but the Eye of Agamotto is sacred,” Strange replies. “If you wish to destroy it, you’ll have to go through me to do so.”

Bruce clears his throat. “Let’s not. We have an unknown enemy coming, and there’s no sense in us fighting each other. We already suspect he’s missing one of the things he wants so badly.”

“Is there more than one on Earth?” Steve asks, apparently deciding to drop the questions about the amulet.

Natasha clears her throat. “Maybe. There was Loki’s scepter that we recovered when we cleared Strucker’s fortress in Sokovia. Strucker used it to modify a couple of kids, but we were never sure how it worked.”

“Where is it now?” Tony asks.

Barton nods. “We left it in the most secure location we could think of—Wakanda. King T’Challa and his sister, Shuri, agreed to keep it so they could study it.”

“Then Thanos may head either here or to Wakanda,” Natasha says.

Strange nods. “I can transport any of you to Wakanda in no time, as can Wong.”

Bruce wonders what that means, right up until orange sparks fill the air, and a portal of some sort forms. An Asian man steps through, glancing around. “Huh. Avengers. Must be trouble.” He does a double take when he recognizes Tony. “Who resurrected Iron Man?”

“I never died,” Tony replies tartly.

He’s finally showing a bit of his usual personality, but Bruce can’t really blame him for shutting down. A lot has happened, a lot has been revealed, and they’re looking at another fight.

“Good for you,” Wong says dryly. “And Dr. Banner. You were also presumed dead.”

Bruce shrugs. “The Army chased me off the planet.”

“It would seem that someone named Thanos is searching for items of power,” Strange tells Wong, holding up his amulet. “They assure me that one was destroyed along with Asgard, I have one, and we believe another is being kept safe in Wakanda.”

Wong sighs. “I see. You don’t know what they are?”

“No, we don’t,” Bruce replies. “But I take it that you do.”

Wong waves a hand, and an illusion appears above their heads. “At the dawn of time, the Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, known as the Infinity Stones, hurtling through the virgin universe. Each of the stones controlled an essential element of existence.”

Wong waves a hand, and six stones appear to float above their heads: blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, and green.

Strange adds, “Space, reality, power, soul, mind, and time. The Tesseract’s ability to transport Thor and Loki back to Asgard after the Chitauri invasion suggests that it was the Space Stone. I have the Time Stone, and based on what I know of Loki’s scepter and how it was used, we can safely assume that’s the Mind Stone.”

“So, Thanos wants the time and mind stones,” Bruce says, trying to keep up.

Steve takes a deep breath. “We’ll go where we’re needed, but let’s figure out where that is. If they come here first, there’s no sense in splitting our forces between New York and Wakanda.”

As if Steve’s words had triggered something, there’s a high, loud whine outside. “I think we know where they’re going first,” Tony mutters, putting his helmet back on. “Too bad Thor isn’t here. Those shiny new powers of his would come in handy.”

“I guess you’ll just have to settle for the Hulk,” Bruce replies. “If at all possible, can someone please bring emergency pants when this is all over? I’m going to need them, and I might need someone to break me out of jail if the Army tries to arrest me again.”

Steve looks Bruce straight in the eye. “Never again. Things are different now, and we aren’t going to let that happen.”

“I’ll bust you out,” Tony promises. “Coming back from the dead has to count for something, right?”

Bruce shrugs. “I guess we’ll see. Once I transform, probably best just to point me at whatever needs smashing.”

Tony laughs. “You’re a lot more coherent than you used to be, Jolly Green. He takes direction well, Cap.”

Steve looks at Strange. “We’re going to need our bags.”

Strange starts to create a portal directly into Barton’s safe house, and Steve and Barnes quickly step through to grab several duffel bags, tossing them through one by one.

Steve looks at Tony once the portal closes. “Can you and Bruce keep them occupied for five minutes?”

“Oh, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that I haven’t been able deploy yet,” Tony replies, his voice a bit tinny through the helmet. “Bruce and I will tie them up for a bit. Just like the arena and the robots, Big Guy.”

Bruce has found that his memories as the Hulk are clearer now than they used to be, and he knows exactly what Tony is referring to. “Let’s put on a show.”

~~~~~

There’s a trick Tony had learned on Sakaar where he packs all of his emotions away and buries them deep, because they won’t serve him. Between the statue, seeing the others again, the news of his parents’ murders, and now going into battle, he uses every bit of what he learned to do just that.

Being emotional isn’t going to serve him right now.

He doesn’t look at the others as he steps out of the townhouse, and he can hear people screaming on the street. Wong and Strange follow him and Bruce, and they fan out, seeing an alien vessel filling the sky.

“That’s something I never wanted to see again,” Bruce says. “Same deal applies, Tony.”

“I’ll get you back,” Tony says, knowing what Bruce needs to hear. “The Hulk likes me, but I’m pretty sure you like me more.”

“I’d hope so,” Bruce replies, and then he turns and starts running towards the alien ship.

Tony will never get tired of watching Bruce turn into the Hulk. It’s always a sight to behold, to watch the green take over the pink of his skin, to watch the seams of his clothes split open, to watch him change into a mountain of muscle.

Of course, this is the first time watching Bruce change and thinking, I get to have that.

The Hulk roars as he runs towards the ship, and a few people who are running away stop and spontaneously cheer. A couple pull out their cell phones to record the sight.

“Holy shit,” Wong says. “You’d never know that was living under his skin.”

“That’s part of the miracle that is Bruce Banner,” Tony says, taking off. He’s glad that he’d had the fights on Sakaar and Asgard to break in the new armor and figure out how to move in it.

The Hulk leaps onto the large, circular ship in a single bound, and he begins to punch it, tearing pieces off when he can manage it. Two aliens beam out of the ship in response, one tall and thin, the other Hulk-sized.

“Rejoice!” the thin one says. “For today your lives gain meaning as you die for Thanos.”

“No one is dying here today,” Tony snaps. “And certainly not in the service of an asshole like Thanos.”

“Is that your response as well, stone-keeper?” the alien asks, clearly addressing Strange.

“You are trespassing on this planet, and will be forcibly ejected,” Strange replies, his hands beginning to move, creating orange sparks.

“Cul, clear the way,” the alien says.

The Hulk-sized alien moves towards them, dragging an axe that’s almost as large as he is.

“Hey, Jolly Green!” Tony calls. “Little help here!”

The Hulk abandons the ship to land on Cul with both feet, driving him into the ground.

Tony turns his attention to the other alien, who apparently has some kind of magical abilities, because he’s turning bricks into spikes and sending them hurtling towards Strange and Wong. They have their hands full creating portals to shunt the spikes away safely, and Tony throws up a shield, trying to hit the alien from the side while he’s fixated on the wizards.

Some machine arm comes out of the ship and hits Tony before he can get there, though, sending him crashing through a nearby building.

Tony just manages to break free, heading back for the fight, when Cul flings the Hulk into Tony, sending them both crashing into a car.

The Hulk growls and shakes himself, then picks Tony up and sets him on his feet. The alien wizard appears to be gaining the upper hand against Strange, and then a series of arrows come flying at his head.

The alien’s focus is broken for a second, which allows Strange to shake off the steel ropes that have formed around him. Wong is sending orange whips in Cul’s direction as Cul targets him, and then Cap’s shield comes out of nowhere, bouncing off the pavement to clip the alien wizard in the head.

The Hulk launches himself back into the fight with a roar, grabbing Cul’s head and yanking him off his feet.

“Here!” Wong shouts, and the Hulk flings Cul through the open portal Wong created.

Tony can see what looks like snow and ice, and Cul tries to reach back through even as the portal closes, cutting off his hand.

Through sheer numbers, they’re starting to wear the alien wizard down. He’s finding it difficult to focus on Strange because he’s defending himself from gunfire from Natasha and Barnes, Steve’s shield, and Barton’s arrows.

The ship is still sending out those mechanical arms, though, and one finds Barton on a roof. It probably would have sent him plummeting to his death, but something stops his fall, and Tony catches sight of a slight figure in red and blue.

Another arm hits Tony from above, pinning him to the sidewalk, but the Hulk is there again, tearing it off Tony.

“Get the wizard, big guy,” Tony gasps out. He’s out of breath, and if they manage to survive this, he’s definitely going to increase his cardio.

“Hulk save Metal Man,” is the reply.

“Gotta save the world first,” Tony says.

The Hulk’s response is to take a chunk of the metal arm he’s just ripped off Tony and send it hurtling at the alien wizard.

It doesn’t hit him in the head—the alien manages to dodge just in time—but it does hit him in the shoulder.

The blow clearly hurts, and he snarls wordlessly, beginning to fly away on a cloud of debris, back to his ship.

Tony readies himself to follow, but Steve holds up a hand. “Wait, Tony. It took all of us. You can’t go after him on your own, and you’re the only who who can fly right now.”

Tony can see the wisdom in that. He doesn’t know anything about magic, and it makes sense to regroup. The alien had clearly thought he could seize the stone from Strange with just the support of Cul. If the Hulk and the rest of the Avengers hadn’t been there, he might have managed it.

“That was too close,” Natasha comments as she approaches. “And you know he’s going to be back with additional forces.”

“We have a chance to marshal our own forces now,” Steve replies.

The Hulk is sitting on his haunches, and Tony approaches. “Hey, Big Guy. You did great smashing.”

The Hulk grunts in response. “Not kill.”

“Well, no, but we’ll get another shot at him,” Tony replies. “There’s always next time, right? Do you think we can get Bruce back?”

The Hulk sighs deeply, and then the green begins to recede from his skin, and Bruce is left sprawled on the pavement, bare-chested, his pants in tatters. He groans. “Did we win?”

“It was a draw, I think,” Steve replies, offering Bruce a hand up. “Where’s Hawkeye?”

“I’m here,” Barton says as he walks up to them, moving his right arm in a way that suggests he’s been injured and is working out the kinks. “Thanks to the kid.”

Walking behind him is the kid in red and blue. He’s wearing a red balaclava over his face, and he waves. “Um, hi.”

“What’s your name, son?” Steve asks.

“Spider-Man?” It comes out as more of a question than a statement.

Barton says, “If it hadn’t been for him, I would have been a pancake on the sidewalk.”

“How old are you?” Natasha asks, sounding a little suspicious.

The kid hesitates. “Is there an answer I could give that would mean I could help?”

“Not when you ask the question like that,” Steve replies, not without humor.

“I can help!” the kid protests.

Barton snorts. “Not without a permission slip.”

Bruce grimaces. “Maybe we could continue this discussion somewhere else? Preferably after I get some clothes?”

Wong begins to create a portal. “We can find something for you at the Sanctum Sanctorum, Dr. Banner. Better bring the kid along, just in case.”

Tony can see the kid blinking behind his mask. “Wait. Dr. Banner, everyone thought you were dead!”

“No, just on another planet,” Bruce says wearily.

“Reports of our deaths have been greatly exaggerated,” Tony jokes as they step through the portal. He’s ready to get out of the armor, wanting to grab Bruce and hold on. Tony can’t break down—he doesn’t have that kind of luxury—but he wouldn’t mind closing his eyes and shutting out the rest of the world for a couple of minutes.

The armor flies off into a pile, and Tony cracks his neck. He’s not expecting the kid to whip his balaclava off to stare at him. “Mr. Stark? You’re alive?”

Tony smiles. “I told you, kid, the reports of our deaths were greatly exaggerated. Bruce, you doing okay?”

“I just want clothes and maybe some food if at all possible,” Bruce says plaintively as he stands in the foyer. “I’d say sleep, but I know better.”

The kid is looking between Tony and Bruce incredulously as the other Avengers join them. They form a loose circle, and Barton says, “I have some spare clothes in my bag, doc. I’ll go grab them for you. They should fit well enough.”

“I’m not picky,” Bruce replies.

“You want to try giving us your name again?” Steve presses.

The kid gulps. “It’s, it’s Peter Parker. I really want to help.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Peter, but you don’t have the tools,” Steve says gently. “Not for what we’re likely to face.”

“And you did help,” Natasha adds. “You saved Clint’s life. That’s more than most teenagers can say.”

Barton has pulled a spare pair of pants and a t-shirt out of the bag they’d brought from the safe house. “See if that works for you, doc.”

“I’ll show you where you can get changed,” Strange says.

Tony has every intention of following them, but Peter says, “What if something bad happens, and I could have stopped it?”

Tony stops, and he turns back to the kid, who’s staring right at him. It’s clear that the kid has a little hero worship, and while Tony wants to nip that in the bud, he doesn’t want to destroy the kid’s innocence either.

“Look, Peter, if something bad happens, it will be because there’s a bad guy doing bad things,” Tony says, putting a hand on Peter’s shoulder, hoping that the point sinks in. “You know who’s responsible for me pulling a disappearing act?”

Peter hesitates. “The aliens who were invading?”

“Them and Loki,” Tony confirms. “And the people who decided to fire a nuke at New York. That’s on them, and Loki has been thoroughly smashed by the Hulk on multiple occasions, so I feel like he got a little bit of what was coming to him.”

Peter manages a tremulous smile. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you again.”

“I survived going through rip in space, and years on a planet ruled by a megalomaniac,” Tony tells him. “We’re going to get through this, too. And when this is all over, you should come find me, and we’ll talk about a suit of armor for you so you don’t have to sit out the next alien invasion.”

It’s a reckless, stupid promise, because he might not survive. Even if he does survive, they might not even stay on the planet.

But what Tony is absolutely certain of is that Peter isn’t going to just go quietly, and Steve had been right: Peter doesn’t have the tools to go up against something like Thanos and survive. If they don’t offer him something, he’s going to try anyway.

He’d probably stow away on the alien vessel or worse.

Peter gives him a hopeful look. “Really? You’re not just saying that to get me to go away?”

“I’m not just saying that,” Tony says, even though he kind of is. But if they get through this, Tony figures he’ll probably need to get a ship ready for them if they decide to leave the planet. He can take a little time and build something for Peter.

Peter swallows. “Okay. But if you need me, will you call?”

“Ask Steve,” Tony replies, stepping back. “I haven’t had a cell phone for years now.”

Bruce emerges, wearing the borrowed clothing. The shirt is a little big across the shoulders, but the pants fit him fairly well. He immediately moves into Tony’s space, and Tony obliges by slinging an arm over his shoulders.

Bruce presses his face into Tony’s shoulder. “I could fall asleep right here.”

“I’ll hold you up,” Tony promises.

Peter is programming his number into Steve’s phone, and Steve is returning the favor, then Barton does the same. Natasha and Barnes are wearing expressions that suggest they find this whole situation to be utter madness.

They’re not wrong, but Tony is unfazed.

Turns out that six years on Sakaar had trained Tony quite well in dealing with this sort of thing.

“Take care of yourself, Peter,” Steve says, ushering him out the front door. “When this is all over, we’ll talk about being a superhero, okay?”

“Was I ever that young?” Tony mutters.

“I know I wasn’t,” Bruce replies.

The door closes behind Peter, and Steve turns. “We need to get to Wakanda. T’Challa is protecting the other stone, and we can marshal our forces there.”

“The Mind Stone,” Wong agrees. “They’ll hit Wakanda next.”

“And probably with a lot of reinforcements,” Steve agrees.

“We have our own reinforcements coming,” Tony says. “I don’t know when Thor will be here, but he will be.”

Natasha nods. “We’ll make our stand in Wakanda, then. Thanos seems to know where the stones are. There’s no sense in splitting our forces if we don’t have to.”

“Wakanda is a good place to do it,” Barnes says, and Tony remembers that he’d said the king of Wakanda had helped him get past the brainwashing.

Strange is already creating a portal. “As long as you promise that we’re not going to wind up on the end of a spear when we step through.”

Natasha holds up her phone. “I texted T’Challa. We’ll be fine.”

Strange looks at Wong. “You’ll stay here?”

“Someone needs to hold down the fort,” Wong replies. “Let me know if you need me.”

“Promise me that we’ll sleep for a week when this is over,” Bruce mutters into Tony’s shoulder. “Also, I’m barefoot.”

“You took out an alien wizard with a piece of debris,” Tony assures him. “I think you’ll be forgiven for not wearing shoes. It’s not like they’re going to refuse you service.”

Bruce snorts in laughter at that, and then he pulls back from Tony, scrubbing his hands over his face and squaring his shoulders. “All right. Back at it.”

Tony watches as the others step through the portal. “After you, Dr. Banner,” he says as the armor reforms around him.

He feels a little steadier even having had that much physical contact with Bruce, the reminder that there’s someone entirely in his corner grounding him.

They just have to stop Thanos, and then they can figure out what they’re going to do next.

Tony isn’t familiar with Wakanda, although he knows that it’s the only source of vibranium on the planet. He also knows that at the time of the Chitauri invasion, Wakanda had been a member of the U.N., but had isolationist tendencies.

So, he feels like he’s a bit in the dark as he steps through the portal, Strange on his heels. They’re in what looks like a lush courtyard with the other Avengers arranged in a semi-circle. Bruce stopped behind Steve, looking as though he’d prefer to disappear.

Tony retracts his helmet, standing next to Bruce, resolving not to let Bruce out of his sight if he can help it.

A tall, Black man stands under an archway, flanked by women dressed in ceremonial armor and carrying spears. Tony now understands Strange’s comment about ending up on the point of one.

“Welcome,” he says, his voice low and melodic. “It is good to see you again.” Then his eyes land on Tony and Bruce. “Well, almost all of you. I am T’Challa, the Black Panther and King of Wakanda.”

Tony glances at Bruce, who’s staring at his bare feet. “I’m Tony Stark, and this is Bruce Banner.”

He’s not sure what else there is to say, other than repeating the joke about their deaths being exaggerated.

“I’m very glad to see you both alive,” T’Challa says gravely. “If there’s anything you need, please let me know.”

“I just need a place to stash my armor,” Tony replies. “And Bruce needs shoes.”

Bruce clears his throat. “Just—something that no one minds if I destroy. The Other Guy is a little…hard. On everything, but especially shoes.”

T’Challa says something to one of the guards. “Aneka will show you where you can safely store your armor. Follow her, and she will bring you to the war room when you’re ready.” He turns to look at Barnes. “White Wolf, you are looking well.”

Tony is grateful to get out of the courtyard, away from the others. Even though they’d been out in the open, it still felt claustrophobic. Aneka leads them down a wide, spacious hallway, eventually bringing them to what looks like guest quarters. “Your armor will be secure here, Mr. Stark,” she says.

Tony allows the armor to drift into a pile in the corner of the room as Aneka has a quick conversation with a young woman who had followed them.

“Are you okay?” Bruce asks in a low voice.

Tony frowns at him. “What do you mean?”

“You don’t seem like yourself,” Bruce whispers. “I don’t know.”

Tony can’t argue with Bruce. “Let’s talk about it later when we don’t have an audience.”

“All right,” Bruce replies, squeezing Tony’s arm.

“Dr. Banner?” The young woman who had followed them to the room is holding a pair of leather sandals. “Mr. Stark said you needed shoes. Will these do?”

Bruce smiles a little ruefully. “Beggars can’t be choosers, but yes, those will do just fine. I suppose we ought to join the others now.”

“Is there anything else we can get you, Dr. Banner?” Aneka asks politely. “Or Mr. Stark?”

Bruce hesitates, but Tony remembers what he’d said earlier. “Maybe a meal? I’m not sure when we ate last, and Bruce had a transformation.”

“Food has been served in the war room, Mr. Stark,” Aneka replies. “Please, right this way.”

Tony needs something to hang on to, so he reaches out to grasp Bruce’s hand. Bruce turns his hand until they’re palm-to-palm and intertwines their fingers.

At least I get to have this, Tony thinks.

~~~~~

Bruce would really love a moment to catch his breath, but he doesn’t think he’s going to get it. He can sense that Tony has shut down, because he’s not his usual talkative self, and he’d been almost short with T’Challa.

Not impolite, but certainly direct and to the point, his usual irreverence dimmed.

On the other hand, Bruce appreciates that there’s someone who’s willing to just—ask for the things Bruce needs, whether that’s shoes or food. He’s never really had that before.

He also hasn’t worn sandals in ages, but at least they’ll be easy to kick off, and he won’t destroy another pair of boots.

Aneka leads them to a large, spacious room that has a hologram projector set in the middle of a long table. There’s a buffet set up on one side with a stack of plates and an array of food. Aneka pauses next to the king and murmurs something in his ear, and T’Challa nods. He breaks off his conversation with Steve and makes his way over to them.

“Captain Rogers said that you came to warn us about Thanos at great personal risk,” T’Challa says gravely. “Thank you.”

Bruce can feel Tony stiffen next to him, and he really wishes that he knew Tony better and could diagnose the problem. Right now, he just knows that there is one.

“We were happy to do it,” Bruce says, answering for both of them. “We knew the threat that Thanos presents.”

“Please, help yourselves,” T’Challa says. “Join us.”

Bruce squeezes Tony’s hand, and he squeezes back, taking an audible breath. “Better get yourself wrapped around some food, String Bean. There’s no telling when we’ll get another chance to eat.”

Maybe he’ll get a chance to figure out what’s going through Tony’s head before Thanos makes landfall, but Bruce will honestly settle for just getting some food.

Bruce loads a plate, and he refuses to be self-conscious about it. If he has to transform again soon—and he probably will—then he’ll do better if he loads up on calories now.

“The Mind Stone is secure,” T’Challa is saying. “We have it in the vault below the palace.”

“From what the wizard could do, I think Thanos could drill right through,” Strange says. “I don’t think my magic would have stopped him, but the Hulk and the other Avengers were able to prevent him from taking the Time Stone.”

Bruce can feel Tony’s desire to make a really smart ass remark at Strange’s expense, but he doesn’t. He’s worryingly quiet.

“I think we can assume that he has at least one or more of the other stones,” Natasha says. “Since Earth is home to two of them, it would make sense that he would leave this as his last stop. Tony, you said that one of them was destroyed? Are you certain?”

“No, I’m not absolutely certain,” Tony says stiffly. “But the Hulk tossed it into the fires of Ragnarok, and then Asgard exploded. I would have thought it would take him longer to fish it out of the wreckage.”

“I’m not clear on what Ragnarok is,” T’Challa says politely.

Tony glances at Bruce, who quickly swallows the bite of food he’d just taken. “It was a prophecy about the end of Asgard, and—well, Asgard is no more, but the people remain.”

“If the people survive, then perhaps that is enough, but they will need another homeland,” T’Challa says. “When we have defeated Thanos, we’ll turn our attention to that.”

Bruce is expecting Tony to say something in response, but when he’s silent, Bruce says, “I’m sure Thor would appreciate that.”

He’s not sure how to address T’Challa, so he keeps it simple.

“What does Thanos even want?” Barton asks. “I mean, you said he sent Loki here, but why?”

“Loki said he goes from planet to planet, killing half of all life he finds,” Bruce says when Tony remains silent. “That’s part of why Thanos sent him here, but I have to imagine that he probably wanted the Tesseract, too.”

“And thanks to you, he won’t get it,” Steve says.

Bruce shrugs. “Talk to me when we run into Thanos and he doesn’t have the stone. That wizard was something else, and they gave the Hulk a work out.”

Having said his piece, Bruce applies himself to his meal, not knowing whether it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner.

“He’ll come here because two of the stones are here,” Barnes says. “We need more firepower. Where are the Maximoffs?”

T’Challa shakes his head. “We lost track of them.”

“Sam?” Natasha prompts.

Steve shrugs. “His wings got busted on the last job he was on with us, and the government isn’t going to fix them.”

Tony’s head comes up at that, probably at the idea of something he can fix, something that’s firmly within his control. “What needs to be fixed? Because given a little time and the right materials, I can take care of him.”

T’Challa looks at Strange. “Can you get him here?”

“In moments,” Strange replies.

T’Challa glances at Tony. “What do you need?”

Tony blinks at him, and then he says, “I’ll need the item that needs fixing, Bruce, and maybe another set of hands, other than the materials.” He pauses. “Actually, I could do a lot more if I had access to Jarvis, and for that, I’m going to need to talk to Pepper.”

Bruce notices that Tony doesn’t sound all that excited about it, but he can’t blame him. The conversation is going to be awkward at best, and probably fairly painful.

And it could end up making things uncomfortable between him and Tony.

“Of course,” T’Challa replies easily. “Dr. Strange?”

“I’ll retrieve Sam Wilson and his equipment,” Strange says. “It might help if someone warns him I’m coming.”

Steve is already pulling out his cell phone. “I’ve got it. Give me a minute, and I should have a location.”

Bruce leans close to Tony’s ear to whisper, “I should have asked.”

Tony shakes his head. “It’s been a long time, Bruce. Don’t worry about it.”

Aneka brings a cell phone to Tony. “You can take the phone in the hallway if you would prefer privacy.”

“I might need to do a little work to get them to believe it’s me,” Tony replies. “So, I’ll call from in here.”

Tony dials a number from memory as Bruce finishes his meal. Someone on the other end apparently picks up, because Tony says, “Happy, it’s me. It’s Tony.”

There’s a pause, and then Tony puts the phone on speaker in addition to video. Given the apparent proliferation of Tony Stark impersonators, Bruce can understand at least a little bit why even the visual wouldn’t be enough.

“No, it’s not a prank or a trick,” Tony insists. “I have Bruce Banner with me, and I can get the rest of the Avengers if necessary.”

“I’m going to need you to prove it, asshole,” Happy says, sounding pissed off. “Because if this is some kind of trick—“

Steve clears his throat, looking over Tony’s shoulder. “Mr. Hogan? This is Steve Rogers. Tony really is here with us in Wakanda, and he needs to speak with Ms. Potts.”

“This is a trick,” Happy says weakly. “This has to be a trick.”

Tony says, “It’s not a trick, Hap. I need you to listen to me, okay? I need access to Jarvis.”

He retreats from the room, into the hallway, and Bruce is torn about following him. Finally, he shoves the last bite into his mouth and wanders after Tony, who’s hunched over the phone.

“No, yeah, that was me,” he’s saying. “We’re dealing with a planetary threat, so I didn’t have time to call.”

Bruce hears a woman say, “Tony, I’m so sorry. I don’t—I don’t know what to tell you, it’s just—“

“There are no hard feelings, I swear. As far as you knew I was dead. I wanted you to be happy.”

She asks, “Did you move on?”

“Yeah, I had to. I didn’t think I was ever getting off that planet. I guess I assumed that I’d die there.”

There’s a gasp, and an, “Oh, Tony.”

“No, I’m sorry. I know that was blunt.”

“No, it’s fine,” Pepper says faintly. “I understand.”

“Look, we can work it out if the planet survives this thing,” Tony finally says. “But it would be helpful if I had access to Jarvis.”

“Of course, Tony, whatever you need. I can send the prototype you made, too,” she replies immediately.

Bruce watches as Tony’s shoulders slump. “Yeah, that would be great. I’m surprised you kept it. I just—are you happy?”

“I’m getting there,” Pepper replies. “I hope you are, too. When this is over, I want to hear all about it.”

Tony letting out a watery chuckle. “When this is all over,” Tony says. “Take care of yourself.”

Tony ends the call, and he immediately hauls Bruce into a hug. “She and Happy are together,” he says. “That was part of the disbelief when I called. They were worried I’d hold it against them.”

“Do you?” Bruce asks.

Tony laughs weakly. “Bruce, I fucked a lot of people on Sakaar, and I had a relationship with none of them. If Pepper has found someone who can make her happy, then I honestly wish her the best.”

Bruce holds him tightly, and he’s selfishly grateful that Tony isn’t going to go running back to Pepper, although Bruce would have let him go if Tony had asked.

“Pepper kept the suits I was working on before the thing in Manhattan,” Tony says. “And I’m going to have access to Jarvis again. I’ll be able to do a lot more.”

Bruce pulls back. “Plus you have me. We did pretty good together on Sakaar.”

“We did great,” Tony counters. “Did you get enough to eat?”

Bruce is still a little hungry, but he’ll be fine. “I think we should probably get to work.”

Tony gives him a searching look. “Well, when this is all over, we’ll take our time over a meal.”

They head back into the meeting room, and Bruce notices that Strange isn’t there. Bruce assumes that he’s gone to retrieve this mysterious Sam and his broken equipment.

Tony says, “I should have access to Jarvis, as well as the suits I left behind. If I can find a way to get to Stark Industries’ HQ, I should have what I need.”

T’Challa nods. “That can be arranged. Are you well, Mr. Stark?”

He asks as though he really cares about the answer to the question, and Tony hesitates. “I’ll be fine, your majesty.”

T’Challa looks at Bruce. “And you, Dr. Banner?”

Bruce figures that maybe it makes sense to ask the guys who were supposed to be dead how they’re doing. “Fine,” Bruce echoes.

Orange sparks begin to form in the air, and a portal opens. A Black man steps through, his hair and goatee neatly trimmed, carrying a bundle in his arms. His eyes are wide, but he appears to be maintaining his composure.

“Welcome, Sam Wilson,” T’Challa says.

“It’s a pleasure to be here, your majesty,” Wilson says evenly, and Bruce gets the sense that the man is not easily fazed. He glances at Tony, and his eyes widen further, but he doesn’t say anything else, not even when Bruce sees Wilson looking at him, and the recognition dawns.

“Dr. Strange, Mr. Stark needs to retrieve a suit,” T’Challa adds.

Bruce realizes what he’s found so odd about the dynamics. It’s clear that T’Challa’s control of the situation goes beyond being the king; he’s the mediator. He’s the neutral party in a room full of people who don’t exactly get along with each other but do recognize T’Challa’s authority.

“Of course,” Strange replies. “Where is it located?”

“In a vault in the basement of Stark Industries’ HQ,” Tony replies. “Everything I need is in there, according to Pepper. I just need to unlock it. She never erased my biometrics.”

“That’s easy enough to take care of,” Strange replies.

In fact, it takes about three minutes for Strange to open a portal, Tony to step through and access the vault, and then to step back through wearing red and gold armor.

Tony says, “If you have a workshop for me to use, I’d appreciate it, your majesty. I’ll work with Mr. Wilson on repairing the equipment.”

“Of course, Mr. Stark,” T’Challa replies, and nods at Aneka.

“Right this way,” Aneka says.

Wilson glances at Steve who says, “Tony will get you sorted out, and Bruce can fill you in on the rest.”

Wilson just shakes his head. “All right.” And then he mutters, “The things I do.”

Bruce is a little curious about the suit, but he knows that he’ll have to wait for answers. Aneka shows them to a spacious lab that’s clean and white, a far cry from Tony’s jumbled, thrown-together workshop on Sakaar. A young woman is there, dressed in orange, her braids piled on top of her head in two buns.

Her eyes go wide at the sight of Tony in his armor, especially when the armor splits open to allow Tony to step out of it. “Mr. Stark,” she says. “I have great admiration for your work.”

“This is Shuri, the king’s sister,” Aneka says. “Shuri, this is Tony Stark, Dr. Bruce Banner, and Sam Wilson.”

Shuri winces. “Forgive my manners.”

Tony smiles. “To be honest, you have better manners than most I’ve encountered over the last few years. I hope you’ll be able to help.”

“I’m at your service,” Shuri replies. “And Dr. Banner, I have read most of your articles.”

Bruce smiles. “I hope some of them were at least mildly interesting.”

“Very much,” Shuri replies with a smile. “But we can talk about this later, after we deal with the task at hand.”

She waves at a workbench. “Let’s see what we’re working with.”

Wilson puts his bundle down, and it looks like a backpack with wings extending from it. One of the wings looks as though half of it has been sheered off.

Tony hums as he looks closer. “I see. Yeah, I think—if we just—“ He trails off for a moment, clearly deep in thought. “I can fix this, no problem. It’s just a matter of finding the materials.”

Shuri is leaning over the other side of the table, opposite from Tony. “I know exactly what we need. Give me a minute.”

Wilson turns to Bruce. “What can you tell me about what we’re up against?”

Bruce takes a deep breath. “Let’s sit. It’s a bit of a story, and Tony is a better engineer than I am. Based on what I can see here, so is Shuri.”

Slowly, he explains how they’d saved the people of Asgard, and what they’d been able to put together regarding Thanos’ aims. “We believe he’s coming here next,” Bruce finally says. “To retrieve the other two stones. We thought we might need more fire power.”

“Well, I’m happy to help,” Wilson finally says after a long pause. “But if you don’t mind me saying so, Dr. Banner, it sounds like you two have been on a long, strange trip.”

Bruce shakes his head. “Yeah, that would be an accurate description.”

“Come over here, Wilson,” Tony says. “I want to make sure this will work. I have some ideas about how to make the controls more responsive, but I won’t make changes until you have the time and space to test it out and get used to them.”

Tony is in his element right now, and Bruce can see how much more relaxed he is. Fixing something is clearly Tony’s sweet spot, and with his old suit standing ready, it’s almost as though they can pretend Sakaar never happened.

Bruce knows better than to think they can completely leave it in the past, but they can set it aside for now.

Tony is putting the finishing touches on Wilson’s wings when Shuri gets an urgent message from the king.

“Are they here?” Shuri asks.

“Not yet,” T’Challa replies. “But we do have additional reinforcements, and they’re quite insistent on seeing Mr. Stark.”

“Go,” Shuri says. “I’ll finish up here with the the final calibrations.”

Bruce glances at Tony. “Do you know who it is?”

Tony frowns. “No, I don’t—yeah. Fuck. He’s going to be mad that I didn’t call him first.”

“Who?” Bruce asks.

“Rhodey,” Tony replies. “Pepper would have called him.”

Aneka is leading the way through the palace toward the courtyard where they’d first arrived.

“Why didn’t you?” Bruce asks, striving to sound merely curious. He’s not sure who he would have called if he turned up back on Earth, so he’s certainly not holding it against Tony.

“Force of habit,” Tony admits. “I needed Jarvis and access to my suits, so I knew I’d have to call Pepper. Also, I had Happy’s number memorized. Rhodey’s was always programmed into my phone, so I just—didn’t think about it.”

Bruce laughs. “And Pepper didn’t ask.”

“And Pepper didn’t ask,” Tony admits. “I’ve made do without a lot for years, Bruce. It’s going to take some getting used to having people around I can count on.”

The only reason Bruce knows anything about Colonel James Rhodes is because he’d followed Tony’s exploits prior to SHIELD contacting him. He’d watched the Senate hearing online, and had seen Rhodes by Tony’s side. He hadn’t known they were tight enough for Rhodes to come straight to Wakanda as soon as he heard that Tony had returned from the dead, though.

Rhodes is standing in the courtyard, and he’s in dress blues, which makes Bruce hang back.

“Tony,” Rhodes says, his voice breaking. “When Pepper called, I wasn’t sure if she was serious. Where have you been?”

“I was on a trash planet,” Tony replies flatly. “Quite literally. How did you even get here?”

“I called Wong,” Rhodes replies. “He owed me a favor.”

“Where’s your armor?” Tony asks. “Did you break it?”

“I didn’t dare without you here to fix it,” Rhodes shoots back, and he’s also staring at Tony like he knows something is wrong but doesn’t know how to fix it. “Come here.”

Tony takes three steps forward, closing the distance, and he buries his face in the side of Rhodes’ neck.

“I got you,” Rhodes promises. “You’re home now, Tony.”

“We’re not home yet, Rhodey,” Tony mutters. “We have to get through this crisis first.”

“We will,” Rhodes says. He pulls back and looks over Tony’s shoulder at Bruce. “Dr. Banner, I see that you also survived. Pretty sure the Army thought you’d crawled into a hole and died.”

“No, they just chased me off the planet,” Bruce replies wryly.

Rhodes releases Tony and holds out a hand for Bruce to shake. “Thanks for helping to bring him home.”

Bruce isn’t sure that they are home, but he shakes Rhodes’ hand willingly. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“I think saving the planet twice gets you a permanent get out of jail free card,” Rhodes jokes. “So, we’ll work on that.”

Rhodes seems sincere, and Bruce smiles. “It might be nice to have someone else in my corner.”

“I think you’ll find you have more than just me and Tony,” Rhodes says warmly.

Bruce doesn’t know if he trusts that, but he’s willing to let that go. “Maybe we should figure out where things are.”

“What are you going to do about the armor?” Tony asks Rhodes.

“I’m kind of hoping the wizard can help me out with that,” Rhodes says. “I still need a machine to get in and out of the suit.”

“I might be able to hook you up,” Tony replies. “We can talk about it, at least, since we might not have the time to get you to the armor and back.”

“It’s good to have you back, Tony,” Rhodes says. “I missed you.”

To Bruce, Tony’s shoulders still seem to be in a tense line, but he’s not about to call Tony on that right now.

Maybe they’ll just keep telling themselves they’ll get to it when the crisis is over, and the crisis will never be over, but Bruce figures that’s a problem for later.

Hopefully, they all survive.

~~~~~

Tony doesn’t know why he hadn’t called Rhodey. The truth is that he hadn’t even thought about calling him. He’d put Rhodey in the same box as the rest of his past while he’d been on Sakaar.

In some ways, he’d considered his past before Sakaar as dead as everyone on Earth had considered him.

Rhodey clearly doesn’t quite believe that he’s alive, because he stays within arm’s reach, and he keeps throwing worried glances at Tony.

The truth is, Tony knows that he’s not okay, and he can tell that both Rhodey and Bruce know he’s not okay. They each have the same worried expressions on their faces.

Tony figures there’s a whole lot of shit that he hasn’t dealt with, but now he’s back on Earth, and that shit is staring him right in the face.

He would like nothing more than to be fine, but he doesn’t know how.

Tony doesn’t have the time to figure it out either.

They’re back in the war room, and even though hours have passed since they arrived in Wakanda, Thanos hasn’t shown up yet. Of course, it’s pretty clear that Thanos had sent his wizard ahead to retrieve the stone from Strange.

But isn’t that par for the course? Tony thinks. Didn’t he send Loki to conquer the Earth?

Thanos will probably come himself this time, though. So they have that to look forward to.

“Colonel Rhodes, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” T’Challa says, and he greets Rhodey with a handshake that suggests they’re familiar with each other already.

Tony is really trying not to think about how everyone had gotten along so well without him. No one had needed him, not really.

But he’s not thinking about that. He’s not.

“We don’t know exactly when Thanos will arrive,” T’Challa says. “But we know he’s coming. Thank you all for showing up, and for fighting for our planet. Let’s review our resources.”

Tony is looking forward to finding out when Wakanda had broken its isolationist streak, but that’s a conversation for another day.

God, he’s going to have to stick around to figure things out, isn’t he? He’s going to have to deal with everything.

Tony just—shuts off. He shuts off that part of himself, the way he’d done so often on Sakaar.

If he survives the confrontation with Thanos, he can figure it out then.

“What do you need?” T’Challa asks Rhodey.

Rhodey glances at Tony. “If there’s an easy way for me to get into the armor quickly, I can help defend the stones.”

T’Challa looks to Tony. “And you, Mr. Stark?”

“I don’t think we want to bank on me having enough time to automate the process,” Tony says reluctantly. “Not with the existing War Machine armor.”

Rhodey clears his throat. “It’s not War Machine any longer. They changed the name to the Iron Patriot.”

Tony blinks. “Well, that’s fucking stupid.”

Rhodey lets out a startled laugh. “I didn’t get a vote.”

“At least I know you haven’t lost your taste,” Tony mutters.

T’Challa asks, “Is there anything we could do to facilitate matters?”

Tony drums his fingers on the table, really thinking through the feasibility. “Bruce, what do you think?”

“We could modify your suit from Sakaar with a software update from Jarvis,” Bruce offers. “That would be doable, and maybe take three hours on the outside. Since you have your Iron Man armor, we could repurpose the Sakaar armor for Colonel Rhodes.”

“Call me Jim,” Rhodey says.

Bruce smiles briefly. “Thanks.”

“You have the resources of Wakanda at your disposal,” T’Challa says.

“I’m not going to be of much help when it comes to tactics,” Tony admits. “So, I’d rather get started on the suit.”

“I’m sure Shuri will be happy to assist you as well,” T’Challa replies. “Let us know if you need anything else.”

Tony glances at Rhodey. “I can let you know when we’re ready for you. I’m going to have to alter the controls to make sure it’s still instinctive. I don’t know that we’re going to have time for you to practice. Lucky for you, I’ve been building shit for the last six years.”

“I trust you,” Rhodey replies. “Your builds have always been good.”

“At least I’m not limited to working with actual trash,” Tony says.

Bruce clears his throat. “Not for nothing, but you also have me.”

“Too true, Science Bro,” Tony says, getting to his feet.

“I think that might be my favorite,” Bruce replies.

“Your favorite what?” Tony asks.

“Nickname.”

Aneka stands ready to escort them back to the same lab where they’d been working with Shuri earlier, who’s looking very excited. “My brother tells me that we’re going to be reworking the armor. I have some ideas.”

Tony takes a deep breath. “Do you have a work station? I can get Jarvis involved. Bruce, you haven’t even met him yet.”

“I can’t wait,” Bruce replies sincerely.

Tony plugs the USB stick into the workstation and he logs in to the portal that will give Jarvis access to the computer, and to the systems.

He’s a little surprised that King T’Challa and Shuri have trusted him so much, but he’s glad to have Jarvis back.

“Sir, it really is so good to know that you’re alive,” Javis says as soon as Tony has put in the passcode. “I hesitate to say that I had hope, but perhaps that’s the word for it.”

Tony takes a deep breath, hearing the familiar voice again. They’d only had a few, brief moments when he first put on the red and gold armor again. “I’ve missed you, too, J. I want you to meet Dr. Bruce Banner.”

“Dr. Banner,” Jarvis says. “I am well versed in all your work.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Bruce replies. “I’ve heard all about you.”

“We need to update the armor I built on Sakaar,” Tony says. “And make sure it works for Rhodey. And maybe make sure that the suit I retrieved from SI works for me.”

“Yes, Miss Potts said you were expecting another alien invasion,” Jarvis replies. “I have to say that I don’t approve.”

“Neither do I,” Tony says. “And Jarvis, this is Shuri, King T’Challa’s sister. I think that makes her a princess.”

“I prefer scientist,” Shuri says, flashing her dimples.

“She’s a scientist,” Tony amends. “What can we do?”

“We can do anything you’d like to do, sir,” Jarvis replies. “Depending on the amount of time we have.”

“Rhodey’s suit first,” Tony says. “My suit will work fine for me, but he needs to be in a place where he can get in and out of it besides at just one location on the planet.”

“My apologies, sir,” Jarvis replies. “I would have offered, but I didn’t want to overstep.”

Tony smiles. “Not your fault, and there’s no time like the present. Let’s get to work.”

Getting the software in the suit updated is easy, although Tony has Jarvis save a version of the code he wrote on Sakaar. He doesn’t know what he’ll need to use it for, but Tony doesn’t believe in wasting things.

Especially after six years on a trash planet, repurposing scrap.

“Do you want to repaint it?” Shuri asks, giving the armor a dubious look.

“If we have time,” Tony says. “Just not red, white, and blue. I just know what the Iron Patriot looks like.”

Bruce snorts. “I’m not surprised.”

“I’m still mad about it,” Tony says.

“What color?” Shuri asks.

“It was gunmetal gray before,” Tony replies, staring at the multi-colored armor that had gotten him off Sakaar. “Rhodey’s armor, I mean.”

Shuri frowns. “We have fast-drying paint. I hate letting something out that has substance and no form.”

“I would agree,” Tony replies. “Bruce, what do you think?”

“Gunmetal gray would make him less of a target,” Bruce points out. “Although the red and gold makes you more of one, which I don’t love.”

“Red and gold is me,” Tony says. “And the armor can take it.”

Bruce is quiet for a moment. “I remember what you said. It’s a gift. We just have to figure out how to use it.”

Tony claps him on the shoulder. “There you go. So, let’s get to work.” He turns to Shuri. “I think you’re the key to this, because I’ve been working with trash for six years. I need to know what I have to work with here, because I have no idea.”

Shuri smiles. “It’s not every day that I get to work with a couple of dead men.”

“I might feel as though I’m coming back to life,” Tony says, although he’s not sure that’s entirely the truth.

But being in the workshop, Tony is in his sweet spot, and he already knows that he enjoys working with Bruce. He has a feeling that Shuri is going to be a good addition, because she has a knowledge base that they don’t.

Tony doesn’t even know what he has to work with, but Shuri does, and Bruce keeps him steady.

“Don’t think I can’t see you struggling,” Bruce says under his breath as they’re waiting for the code to compile at one point. “Because I can.”

“Let’s get through this,” Tony replies. “I might need to stick around long enough to figure some things out, but not if it’s going to put you at risk.”

Bruce shrugs. “It’s a different world than it was when I left the planet, Tony. We’ll figure it out.”

It turns out that they have plenty of time to modify Tony’s suit from Sakaar. He suspects that Thanos had another errand to run first, possibly to get another stone. They don’t know exactly how many he has, but it would make sense that he’d save Earth for last, considering that there are two.

Still, they have no idea how much time they do have, so they work straight through, well past the point of exhaustion, until they’re ready for Rhodey to test it.

Aneka sends a message to the king, who sends Rhodey down to the workshop.

“So, how does this work?” Rhodey asks.

Tony hands him the wrist cuff that can be used to trigger the suit. “Just press the button on top, then the two on the sides.”

Rhodey looks a little skeptical, but he snaps the cuff on his right wrist, the one that doesn’t have a watch, and follows instructions.

Just as hoped, the suit forms around Rhodey, the interlocking pieces slotting together. “Holy shit,” Rhodey says as the faceplate closes, his voice just a bit tinny. “This is amazing.”

“I had some time to perfect it,” Tony admits. “But Bruce definitely helped.”

“I was another set of hands,” Bruce says around a yawn.

Tony gives him a look. “Two geniuses are always better than one.”

“Point,” Bruce says.

“I have no complaints, other than the paint job or lack thereof,” Rhodey admits. “How do I get out of it?”

“There’s another button on the inside of the right wrist,” Tony replies. “Press and hold for five seconds.”

Rhodey does that, and the armor flies off, reforming as a suit, standing by itself. “Pretty remarkable, Tony. It’s good to have you back.”

Tony shrugs. “You got along without me just fine.”

Rhodey gives him a sharp look. “We were fine—but fine isn’t great. You were missed.” He hesitates. “Is this about Pepper?”

“I wasn’t expecting her to wait for me,” Tony admits after a moment. “It’s not that.”

Rhodey sits on a stool, and Tony notices that Shuri has moved to the other side of the workshop, and Bruce is drifting in that direction.

Really, all Tony wants to do is to crawl into bed next to Bruce and sleep. He doesn’t want to talk about Sakaar, or his feelings, or anything like that.

But that’s apparently not in the cards.

“Talk to me,” Rhodey says. “I can tell something is going on.”

Tony doesn’t think he has the words to explain. “I always hated It’s a Wonderful Life, and now I’m living it, except I don’t know that the world would have been better off with me in it.” He pauses. “And I didn’t spend the last six years being a hero.”

“But you survived,” Rhodey points out. “You shouldn’t have, but you did.”

“Surviving isn’t living,” Tony says.

Rhodey seems taken aback by that, and he looks down at the floor for a long moment. “I don’t know what to tell you,” he finally says. “Except that I missed you like hell, and the world wasn’t better for me without you here. Pepper mourned you for a long time. She only started to move on this past year.”

“Like I said, I wasn’t expecting her to wait for me,” Tony replies. “For a long time, I thought I’d die on Sakaar.”

“I’m sorry,” Rhodey finally says, and he reaches out and rests a hand on Tony’s forearm. He squeezes for a long moment, and Tony can feel the heat of his hand.

That’s all Rhodey says, but it’s somehow enough. He and Rhodey have been friends a long time, and there’s probably no one who knows him better. Maybe Rhodey doesn’t know what happened on Sakaar, and has no idea who Tony had become while there, but Rhodey has seen Tony at his worst.

“I missed you,” Tony admits. “There weren’t a lot of friends on Sakaar.”

“You have them here,” Rhodey reminds him. “And I know you’re worried about Bruce, but you’re in Wakanda, and no one is going to come after him here, not when he’s an honored guest.”

Rhodey stands and holds out a hand, pulling Tony to his feet when he accepts it. “And now, I think you both need as much sleep as you can get. We have a bit of a reprieve, and we should make the most of it.”

Tony can’t argue with that, and he calls to Bruce, “You want a nap?”

“I want a good night’s sleep,” Bruce corrects him. “But I’ll take a nap.”

Aneka is ready, apparently, because she says, “There are rooms set aside for you, Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner. But if you would rather a single room—“

“We would,” Tony says firmly after a glance at Bruce, and getting a nod. “Thanks.”

Tony does feel a little better having talked to Rhodey at least. It helps knowing that there had been someone who mourned him, and hadn’t moved on.

Maybe that’s the best he can hope for after six years of being dead—other than stopping Thanos and saving the world.

~~~~~

The bed in the guest quarters is large and ridiculously comfortable. Bruce strips off his clothing and face plants on the mattress.

“How is it?” Tony asks, beginning to take off his shirt.

“Comfortable,” Bruce says into the pillow. “How was your conversation with Rhodes?”

“He said he missed me,” Tony replies, dropping down on the mattress next to Bruce. He slings an arm over Bruce’s stomach when Bruce rolls to he can look at him. “This okay?”

“Yes, it is,” Bruce replies, putting his hand over Tony’s. “And of course he missed you. I missed you, and I’d known you for 24 hours. How long have you two known each other?”

“Since college.” Tony scoots closer and presses his forehead against Bruce’s bare shoulder. “It just seemed like the rest of the world moved on.”

Bruce chuckles. “Tony, there’s a statue of you in Central Park.”

“Dead people get statues in their honor, and no one remembers who they were,” Tony says. “They read a plaque and move on with their lives.”

Bruce props himself up on his elbow, keeping his hand on Tony’s. He’s feeling his way along now, because he doesn’t know Tony well enough to be certain of the right words to say. “I think that happens to everyone. The only thing we can do is make the most of the time we have, and do the most good we can. Maybe they remember us, or maybe they don’t, but how many people did we see in Central Park?”

Tony blinks. “I don’t know.”

“Kids on the playground, the guy who let me use his phone and gave us subway fare, and millions of others…” Bruce lets the thought trail off. “They might not know that you saved their lives, Tony, but you did. They don’t have to remember you for you to know that you did that.”

“It doesn’t make up for what I did and didn’t do on Sakaar,” Tony replies.

Bruce snorts, he can’t help it. “Yeah, and it took you, me, Thor, and Brunnhilde to escape. You’re good, but it’s fine if you’re not that good. That’s why we have a team. That’s why two geniuses are better than one, right?”

Tony pulls him down for a kiss. “I think I’m going to need you to talk sense into me on a regular basis.”

“As long as you promise to talk the Hulk into letting me come back on a regular basis, I’m comfortable with that deal,” Bruce replies. “But if I’ve made my point, I’m going to pass out.”

“Sleep,” Tony replies, running a hand through Bruce’s hair. “I’m going to do the same.”

Bruce lays back down, his head next to Tony’s on the pillow they’re sharing. He can feel Tony’s body heat, feels the weight of Tony’s arm across his stomach. It’s deeply comforting, and Bruce finds himself dropping off almost immediately.

He sleeps without dreaming, and when he wakes, it’s because there’s a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it,” Tony mutters, rolling out of bed and padding over to the door on bare feet. He opens the door and asks, “Is Thanos here?”

“No, Mr. Stark,” a young woman says, her voice melodic. “It appears we have some time yet. I brought breakfast, and the king asked that we bring you fresh clothing. That is still on the way. They are meeting soon, and you are invited, but his majesty said that if you require more rest, you should take it.”

Bruce sits up, watching as the young woman puts a tray of food on the small table in a corner of the room. She glances his way and ducks her head. Bruce hopes she hadn’t been offended by his bare chest.

She leaves the room immediately, and Bruce rolls out of the bed. “I didn’t embarrass her, did I?”

“I’m sure she’s seen worse, Bruce,” Tony assures him. “But maybe pull some clothes on until we get clean stuff.”

Bruce pulls on the dirty clothing. “You know I’m just going to ruin anything I wear.”

“I promise, I’ll make you something that will stretch no matter how big you get,” Tony says. “But that day is not today, I’m afraid.”

Bruce shrugs philosophically. “Well, it’s not like we don’t have other things to think about.”

“I’ll put it on my to-do list,” Tony promises. “Right after we defeat Thanos.”

“Good enough,” Bruce says, sitting down at the table. There are pastries and fresh fruit and coffee, and Bruce tucks in. He could probably eat the entire tray on his own, but he tries to act like a normal person.

If Bruce gives himself any time to think about the last several days, his head will start spinning, so he focuses on the food, which is certainly different from what they had on Sakaar.

Tony eats lightly, then pushes the tray closer to Bruce. “I know you can probably eat that whole thing.”

“I didn’t want to be rude,” Bruce protests.

Tony shakes his head. “I don’t like to eat much right before a big fight. It it were up to me, I’d stick to coffee and call it good—and you’re going to be using a lot of calories.”

Bruce takes that as permission, and he applies himself to the rest of the food, clearing the tray.

He’s cleaning up the crumbs when there’s a knock on the door, and the same young woman from before enters. She has a pile of clothing, and Bruce is glad to see that it isn’t new. There are two pairs of trousers and a couple of t-shirts, along with underwear. Bruce hopes that’s new, but he’s not going to ask.

He knows all about making do with whatever happens to be on offer.

“Do we have time to get cleaned up?” Tony asks the young woman.

She nods. “If you’re quick about it, yes. The ship hasn’t entered our solar system yet.”

“Go ahead,” Tony says to Bruce. “I’ll hop in right after you.”

There’s an ensuite bathroom, and it’s just as nice as the room and the bed they slept in. Bruce would love to linger under the hot water, but he knows better.

The clothing he pulls on fits him well enough, and Bruce puts his sandals back on and counts himself lucky. He’s clean, and he’s had sufficient food and sleep, which is more than he thought he’d get.

Tony follows him, and he’s just as quick as Bruce had been, stepping out of the bathroom with damp hair that curls at the ends. His beard is looking a little shaggy, but the gray trousers and red t-shirt fit. He can get away with wearing the same boots he had on Sakaar.

“I’m going to get some real shoes,” Tony says. “Just as soon as this is all over.”

“I wouldn’t mind clothes and shoes that I choose,” Bruce admits. “But this is fine.”

His blue pants are a little long in the leg, so he’d rolled up the cuffs, and the black t-shirt is a little loose across the shoulders.

“You look good,” Tony replies. “Shall we?”

“Let’s see what we’re dealing with,” Bruce says on a sigh.

There’s another guard outside their door, wearing the ceremonial armor of the Dora Milaje, and she’s clearly their escort. She doesn’t introduce herself, but Bruce gets the feeling that while they might be honored guests, they’re not going to be allowed to wander freely.

She leads them to the same large room with windows looking out over Wakanda. The long table in the center of the room has a holographic projector, and one of the Dora Milaje pulls up a picture of the landscape. Bruce assumes this is where they’re planning to make their stand.

Steve and Barnes are standing shoulder to shoulder, both of them wearing the same dark blue suits they had earlier. Steve’s has a subtle stars and strips worked into the chest, but Barnes has a star on the left shoulder. Natasha is in her signature black jumpsuit, and Barton has his quiver and bow strapped to his back, biceps bulging as he crosses his arms.

T’Challa and Rhodes are leaning over the projection, exchanging information in low, intense tones.

“I understand that we can’t destroy the Time Stone because Strange has an obligation to keep it safe,” Bruce says. “But why can’t we destroy the Mind Stone the way we did the Tesseract?”

Steve touches his ear. “Sam is outside. We have incoming.” Then he looks at Bruce. “We discussed the possibility of destroying the stone yesterday, but there’s no one here with that kind of power. Maybe if we could reach Wanda Maximoff, but she’s not picking up the phone.”

Bruce isn’t sure who that is, but he has to concede the point. They’d destroyed the Tesseract in the fires of Ragnarok, but they don’t have anything similar here. “Where’s Mount Doom when you need it?” he mutters.

Tony snorts. “Never where you need it most, that’s for sure. Where are we making our stand?”

T’Challa points to the hologram. “Here, out on the plains. Our shields will hold, but we don’t know for how long. There is a vibranium-lined vault under the palace, which is where we’ve secured the Mind Stone. Our job is to keep them away from that vault.”

Strange enters the room in a shower of sparks, followed closely by Wong. “Your Majesty, I thought it best to bring reinforcements. We can expect Thanos’ wizard to return, and he was quite formidable.”

“We will take all the help we can get,” T’Challa replies. “We must make our stand here, and try to limit the damage they can do.”

Strange and Wong each begin to create portals, and half a dozen others step through, wearing whatever wizards wear. The Avengers’ field uniforms at least seem practical, but the wizards all look like Ren Faire rejects, and Bruce is a little curious as to why.

Although, maybe it helps them recognize each other on the battlefield.

“We should go,” T’Challa says. “Iron Man, Iron Patriot, are you ready?”

They both nod. “I’ll get into the armor,” Tony says.

T’Challa turns to Bruce. “What do you need, Dr. Banner?”

“A ride to the front line?” Bruce asks. “And probably emergency pants after that. The Hulk is pretty good at smashing whatever you point at.”

“Do you not need any other preparation?” T’Challa asks, sounding surprised. “Forgive me for asking, but I thought it would be a little more complicated than that.”

Bruce glances at Steve, who has a smile playing around his mouth. “That’s my secret,. I’m always angry. I just have to let go.”

“You think the Hulk will still follow me?” Steve asks.

“Sure, if you tell him to smash something,” Bruce replies. “He’s itching to get out right now. I can feel it.”

After a couple of years of having total control, the Hulk isn’t entirely happy about this state of affairs. On the other hand, he likes Tony, and he wants to make Tony happy, and having Bruce makes Tony happy.

And if the only thing that they can agree on is Tony, Bruce will take it.

Well, that and smashing invading aliens.

Bruce really hopes he has some time to explore Wakanda when this is all over. The technology here is enticing, he thinks, as they climb on board several hovercraft, each one seating at least a dozen, and more if they squeeze. Tony and Rhodes are flying side-by-side towards the boundary of the shield over Wakanda. Beyond that, there are six or more huge metal shards—at least, that’s what they look like to Bruce.

He’s in the same hovercraft as Steve, Natasha, and Barnes, and Bruce doesn’t have an earbud in, because it’s not going to do him much good once he transforms.

Portals open near the shield to allow the wizards to step through.

“Tony says and they’ve located a couple of heat signatures approaching the shield,” Steve announces, and from the glance he gives Bruce, it’s for his benefit.

The hovercraft stop and turn, tipping slightly to allow the occupants to slide out of their seats and onto the battlefield. The Wakandans are forming up into lines, with one group chanting in a language Bruce doesn’t know.

Bruce hangs back even as Steve, Natasha, and Barnes join T’Challa as they approach the edge of the shield. Surreptitiously, Bruce kicks off his sandals, feeling the dry grass under his bare feet, and Tony lands next to him. “You ready?”

Bruce shrugs. “Is anyone ready for this? This is worse than the Chitauri, Tony.”

“I know,” Tony says, flipping up his faceplate. “I’m gonna be in the air, but I’ll try to keep an eye out for you, especially if the Hulk wanders off.”

Bruce smiles. “I know you will.”

Tony presses his mouth to Bruce’s in a quick, hard kiss. “See you later.”

It feels like a promise.

Tony flies straight up into the air, beginning to fly back and forth in front of the shield, above the throngs of Wakandans. Wilson and Rhodes are doing the same, clearly waiting for things to kick off.

The tension is thick, but from everyone around him, Bruce can feel only focused intensity. Steve, Natasha, and T’Challa approach the shield to face the two that had emerged from the ships, with Barnes hanging back slightly.

The fact that they come jogging back after just a couple of minutes, and Steve stands shoulder-to-shoulder between Barnes and Natasha, suggests that there had been no successful negotiation.

Of course, Thanos has apparently made a career out of invading planets and killing people. He’s not going to leave without the stones, and even if he’s just missing one, he’ll have more power than anyone should.

Bruce starts when Strange appears next to him. “A word, Dr. Banner?”

Bruce blinks. “Uh, sure. That would be fine. I’m not sure we have a lot of time, though.”

“I’m aware,” Strange says dryly. “It will only take a moment. Will you trust me when I tell you that the Eye of Agammoto can show me possible futures?”

Bruce stares at him. “I’m going to just point out that I woke up on an alien planet a week ago where I apparently spent a couple years as a gladiator, and then I escaped that planet with a dead man, the God of Thunder, and a Valkyrie. Oh, and I watched a world end. So, if you tell me that a green rock gave you visions of possible futures, I’m big enough to accept that you might be telling the truth.”

Strange actually laughs at that. “You know, I like you more than I like Stark.”

“Most people do,” Bruce admits. “But half of that is because I’m trying to make up for the Other Guy.”

“Be that as it may, we have an opportunity to end Thanos today,” Strange says. “Thor will arrive during this battle, and there were only two futures where we win.”

Bruce is all ears. “Okay.”

“One of those futures has Thor taking a head shot and splitting Thanos’ skull,” Strange says bluntly. “The second is if Thor is stupid enough not to take the head shot, the Hulk rips Thanos’ head off while he’s distracted by Thor’s axe.”

Bruce takes a deep breath, looking around at everyone there. “Why me? I—the Hulk—might… He might get distracted. Or he might not remember what you told me.”

“It has to be you,” Strange replies.

Bruce grimaces. “But no pressure.”

“There’s pressure on all of us,” Strange says with a grim little smile.

Bruce gives him a sharp look. “There’s no future where you don’t suffer.”

“No, there isn’t,” Strange says. “That’s part of bearing this burden.”

“Thank you for your sacrifice.” Bruce feels as though it needed to be said. “And I’m sorry.”

“We all make sacrifices, Dr. Banner,” Strange replies. “But thank you.”

There’s a sound coming from the troops, from the shield, and Bruce turns his attention to the front line. He’s not sure what the things throwing themselves at the barrier are, but they have sharp teeth and six legs, and Bruce can see that they don’t care that they’re burning up.

There’s enough of them that they’re going to overwhelm the shield through sheer numbers alone.

“Excuse me,” Bruce says. “But this is where I get angry.”

He doesn’t wait for an answer, winding his way to the front of the crowd. T’Challa grabs his arm as he passes them. “We can take out the first ones who pass the barrier.”

“So can I, and I had a full breakfast this morning, so I’m good,” Bruce replies. “Trust me. The Hulk can probably go for days. But if I can’t come back, get Tony, and he can talk me around.”

“Of course,” T’Challa says.

And then Bruce starts to run forward, letting the green overtake him, ready to destroy some aliens.

~~~~~

Tony can see everything from above. It’s clear that Steve and T’Challa had told refused entry, and then been told to go fuck themselves.

He can see Strange speaking with Bruce, and he wonders what that’s all about, because Bruce doesn’t have a com, and if Strange does, he’s turned his off.

Tony doesn’t have much time to worry about that, because there’s a wave of alien dog/insect things pouring out of the ships.

They throw themselves at the barrier, and Tony can see that they’re cannon fodder, meant to sacrifice their lives until a few of them get through.

“Hey, Rhodey,” Tony says. “You want to have a friendly competition?”

“I’m going to smoke so many more than you,” Rhodey replies, immediately understanding what he’s proposing.

The Hulk roars, running ahead of the troops on the ground, grabbing one of the alien mutts and ripping it in half.

“Oh, shit,” Rhodey says. “I’ve never seen him in action before, other than on video.”

“Yeah, it’s a sight to behold,” Tony replies, then takes out two alien mutts with his repulsers. “Try to keep up.”

“I’m gonna have both of you beat,” Wilson says, swooping in to take out three of them. “Good luck.”

Tony knows that they’re the forward defense. The more they can kill, the fewer reach the people who are going to wind up going hand-to-hand.

And those people aren’t Hulks and they don’t have suits of armor, so the fewer that reach them, the better off they’re going to be.

There are too many of the creatures, though, even with so many burning up on the way through the barrier. It’s clear that they’re going to be overwhelmed eventually.

And then the creatures start circling outside, and it’s clear that they’re going to try to break through the barriers at other locations so they can flank the defending forces from behind.

T’Challa says over the coms, “We’re opening the barrier here to keep their attention on us. We need to concentrate their forces here.”

“Who has eyes on Strange?” Tony asks. “He’s wearing one of those damn stones around his neck.”

Steve replies, “He’s here, Tony. We have eyes on him. T’Challa has opened the barrier.”

“I know,” Tony replies. “We’re on it.”

It’s a relatively narrow opening, so most of those getting through are concentrated in a single area. The strategy pays off, distracting most of the creatures trying to hurl themselves through the shield and redirecting them to the narrow opening.

The Hulk seems to understand what needs to be done, because he takes a giant leap right into the middle of the stream, smashing them with abandon. He goes down a couple of times, only to pop back up with a roar.

Tony and Rhodey are firing from above, assisting anyone who looks like they need help. Wilson swoops in to help Steve, who’s on the ground under about six of the creatures. Barnes and Natasha are fighting back to back for now, firing their guns with precision, while Barton does the same from the relative safety of one of the hovercrafts, putting arrows in aliens from a distance.

Tony is grateful to have his suit back, and to have Jarvis’ assistance for the battle. Jarvis essentially provides another set of eyes, and that means Jarvis is always watching his back, allowing Tony to take more risks.

“Black Widow is in trouble, sir,” Jarvis says.

Tony flies backwards, then dives, hitting one of the creatures from above, giving Natasha space to take out the second one trying to kill her as Barnes fights off another by grabbing it with his left hand and popping its head off.

Almost everyone is overwhelmed. There are simply too many of the creatures, and they’re too hard to kill. The wizards—or whatever they are—have formed a loose circle around Strange to protect the stone.

And then that damn alien wizard floats through the barrier, heading straight for Strange and the others. Apparently, he’s decided they’ve been softened up enough to allow him to get the stone.

Having seen the alien wizard in action before, Tony can’t fault his timing. The Hulk is way too focused on the incoming creatures to go after him right now.

And then there’s a bright ray of rainbow-colored light from the sky, landing between the alien and Strange, and from the beam, the lightning starts.

Another beam of light lands between T’Challa and Steve, and Tony sees a knot of Asgardians, including Heimdall and Brunnhilde.

As Tony watches, a huge lightning storm centers on the alien wizard, who doesn’t seem to have much of a defense against the onslaught, and when the lightning stops, Loki spins up behind the alien, stabbing him in the back with his twin blades.

“Huh, guess Loki is good for something other than being the Hulk’s punching bag after all,” Tony mutters.

“Some of Thanos’ forces have breached the palace,” a voice says over the coms.

“I’m on it,” Tony replies, knowing that they can’t afford to allow them to gain access to the mind stone. “Who has eyes on the Hulk?”

“He’s sticking close to Thor,” Steve says.

“Keep an eye on Strange,” Tony replies, and heads for the palace.

“On your six,” Rhodey calls.

“Same,” Wilson adds. “We’ll protect the stone there.”

“Find my sister,” T’Challa orders. “Both of us have to be present to open the vault.”

And then Steve adds, “Something is coming.”

“We have to get to the palace,” Tony says, putting on a burst of speed.

He’s just going to have to hope that Thor and the Hulk can stop Thanos while Tony and the others prevent Thanos’ minions from getting the mind stone.

~~~~~

The Hulk is tired, more tired than he can remember ever being. So many to fight, and there seems to be no end in sight. One thought dominates, though:

Thor is coming. Must kill Thanos.

When Hulk sees the light coming from the sky, he tips his head back and roars. He knows who’s coming—Thor—which means it’s almost time to kill Thanos.

And then Hulk can rest.

Thor brings lightning onto the Bad Magic Man, and then the puny god kills the bad magic man, so Hulk decides not to smash the puny god again.

Hulk sees Angry Girl appear, and he turns towards her but is stopped when the man in the red cape calls out, “Remember your promise, Hulk! You have to stop Thanos if Thor doesn’t. Thor, go for the head when the time comes!”

Hulk has to stay with Thor and kill Thanos.

Thor swings his axe, and Hulk follows him, smashing any aliens he comes across. Then Hulk sees a large, purple alien step through the gap that had opened in the barrier. The purple alien strides forward, ignoring the chaos surrounding them, heading straight for the man in the red cape.

“There are times when you have to do something yourself if it’s going to be done right,” Thanos says.

Hulk has faced many in the arena, and he can’t remember ever being frightened before, but he is now. Thanos is calm, flicking even the strongest fighters out of the way with barely a glance in their direction.

Suddenly, Hulk wants to leave, to go back to being puny Banner. Puny Banner would be beneath Thanos’ notice.

No, puny Banner says in the back of Hulk’s head. You took care of the space stone. You did that. Remember what Strange said. We can save them! We don’t only have to destroy!

Hulk likes to destroy; he hates the puny god, so he had prevented the puny god from having the shiny thing he wanted.

Thanos is getting closer to red cape man, and the magic users are trying to hold him off, only to be tossed aside.

Lightning comes down from the sky, hitting Thanos and that stops him from moving, at least for a moment.

Hulk is conflicted; he still wants to run, and then Angry Girl begins to run to help Thor, and Hulk doesn’t want anything to happen to his friend.

He runs at Thanos with his loudest roar, the one he’d used in the arena to intimidate his fiercest opponents. Thanos bares his teeth in a grin.

“Ah, the great beast!” Thanos says and flings out a hand.

Hulk feels the power like a fist, but Hulk is stronger, and another huge lightning strike hits Thanos again. Thanos tries to knock Thor back, but Thor renews the lightning and sends his axe hurtling at Thanos.

With Thanos turning to Thor, he takes his attention off Hulk, and Hulk acts out of instinct. He punches Thanos in the back of the head, causing him to stumble forward, his head down—and now directly in the path of Thor’s axe.

Thanos’ head splits open, and Hulk roars at the corpse.

“Well done,” Thor says, sounding slightly breathless. “Good team effort.”

And even though Hulk knows there are still other enemies to defeat, he’s just so tired, and he collapses on the ground, ceding the way to Banner.

~~~~~

Tony is facing off with one of Thanos’ so-called children in the hallway leading to the vault when Steve says, “Thanos is down.”

“Say again,” Tony says breathlessly.

“Thanos is down,” Steve repeats. “Thor got him in the head with his axe.”

“Someone tell the rest of these assholes that,” Tony replies. “And someone secure the other stones!”

“I’ve got Thanos’ gauntlet with the stones he already had,” Steve says after a moment.

Rhodey hits the enemy Tony’s fighting from behind. “Why won’t they stay down?”

“I don’t know,” Tony snarls.

A spear flies straight and true from the hand of a Dora Milaje and the point is buried in the alien’s brainstem, and it finally goes down.

Shuri fires her energy weapon at the last of the alien mutts in the hallway, and that one finally dies. “I appreciate your help, gentlemen,” she says formally.

Tony looks around the hallway. Sam has his hands on his knees, bent over double. “Sam? You okay?” Rhodey asks.

Sam nods and waves a hand. “I’m good.”

Tony asks, “Does anyone have eyes on the Hulk?”

“One of the Asgardians is with him,” Steve replies. “We’re working on clean-up right now. If the palace is secure, we could use your help out here.”

“Better get that gauntlet here and in the vault,” Tony replies. “But we’re on our way.”

By the time Tony, Rhodey, and Wilson are out of the palace, back on the plain where the battle took place, it’s clear that Thanos’ minions have realized that he’s dead.

Thor is tearing through the alien ships that landed, and the Asgardians are helping the Wakandans either kill the remaining enemies or are seeing to the wounded on the battlefield.

T’Challa is piloting one of the hovercraft, heading back to the palace with Steve, Natasha, and Barnes, and Tony can see a large, golden gauntlet cradled in Steve’s arms.

Tony spots Brunnhilde standing over Bruce’s form with a sword, protecting him from whatever remnants of Thanos’ forces are left, and he lands next to her. Tony immediately kneels next to Bruce’s still form.

“How is he?” Tony asks.

“Out cold, but I checked his vitals, and I think he’ll be fine,” she replies. “You?”

“I’m pretty sure I could sleep for a week, but I’m fine, too,” Tony says. “Looks like you guys arrived just in time.”

“Asgard stands ready to help,” Brunnhilde replies. “In whatever way we can. If we hadn’t stopped Thanos here, today, we would have lost so much more.”

Bruce begins to stir. “Fuuuuuuck.”

“You’re okay,” Tony says, flipping up his faceplate. “Thanos is dead, and Steve has secured the gauntlet. We’ll have to figure out what to do with the remaining stones.”

“I wasn’t kidding about Mount Doom,” Bruce mutters.

Brunnhilde reaches down to help Bruce to his feet. His pants are in tatters, and the t-shirt is gone, but Bruce is in one piece, and that’s the important thing.

“What happened to Thanos?” Bruce asks. “I had to talk the Hulk into not retreating. Thanos really freaked him out.”

“The big guy shoved Thanos’ head in the way of the king’s axe,” Brunnhilde replies. “So, I’d say he did just fine.”

“My friends,” Thor booms as he approaches. He claps Tony on an armored shoulder and clasps Bruce’s upper arm. “You were quite helpful today.”

Bruce forces a smile and looks around him, and Tony realizes that Loki is hiding behind his brother. “Maybe your brother needs to be secured.”

“I’ve promised Thor not to do anything to shame him while on Midgard, since this is where we will likely make our home,” Loki says stiffly.

“Well, there’s always Sakaar if it doesn’t work out for you here,” Tony says cheerfully. “I’m sure one of the wizards can create a portal.”

Loki glares at him, but takes a few steps away.

“I’ve asked him to be polite,” Thor explains. “And if he cannot be courteous to those who have saved our people, he can be silent, or I will silence him.”

Tony blinks. “Oh, I guess you’re his boss now.”

“He’s the king,” Brunnhilde says. “But I predict that Loki’s good behavior will last a month at most.”

“Kicking him off the planet remains an option,” Thor rumbles.

A young man with a sword slung across his back runs up to them. “Lord Banner, I have clothing for you!”

Bruce glances at Thor. “Thank you.”

“As I said, you helped save my people. Clothing is the least I can do,” Thor replies as Bruce sheds his tattered pants and pulls on the trousers, tunic, and boots offered.

“Really appreciate it,” Bruce says.

Aneka approaches them. “Would you like a ride back to the palace?”

“I’ll fly,” Tony replies. “But thanks for the offer.” Over the coms, he calls out, “Rhodey, we good?”

“Clean up is ongoing, but well in hand,” Rhodey replies. “The Asgardians have been a huge help. We’re regrouping back at the palace.”

“Then that’s where I’m heading,” Tony says. “See you there, Brucie?”

“Please don’t call me that,” Bruce says wearily.

“Sure thing, Jolly Green,” Tony replies and takes off before Bruce can reply.

Tony is coming down off an adrenalin rush, and he knows he’s going to crash soon. Too many things have happened, and he can’t quite wrap his head around it, but he’ll find a way to maintain until they can get horizontal, and Tony has a moment to process.

He lands in the courtyard and says, “Jarvis, I think we’re good.”

“Miss Potts has asked about your welfare, sir,” Jarvis says as the armor flies off Tony. “May I respond?”

“I don’t have anything to hide from Pepper,” Tony replies. “Let her know that I’m in one piece, but will likely be in Wakanda for a while.”

“Of course, sir,” Jarvis replies.

Tony has no idea what comes next, but he knows that they probably won’t be stepping foot outside Wakanda until Bruce has a promise of safety.

Thor lands next to Tony, electricity still crackling around him.

“Where’s your brother?” Tony asks, feeling the need to know where Loki is when he’s on Earth.

Thor smiles. “Heimdall is keeping an eye on him.”

“I suppose we still have a Hulk to smash him if necessary,” Tony muses. He’s really hoping that he can get a shower and clean clothes soon, because he feels sticky.

Rhodey lands in the courtyard and deactivates the armor, which winds up next to Tony’s. He pulls Tony into a hug. “You good?”

“I’m good,” Tony replies, returning the hug. “You?”

“Still alive,” Rhodey says. “All expectations to the contrary.”

Wilson approaches, looking worn out. “Anybody know where Steve and the others are?”

“I’m here,” Steve says, emerging from the palace. “I had to secure the gauntlet. We’ll have to discuss what we want to do with the stones eventually, but they’ll be safe in the vault for now.”

“It might be best if those stones are scattered to the far winds,” Tony points out. “But yeah, we can talk about that later.”

Aneka pilots one of the hovercraft to the entrance of the courtyard, and Bruce gets out, clearly drooping. Brunnhilde and Heimdall are with him, as is an obviously reluctant Loki.

T’Challa steps out of the palace, Shuri on his right, and a regal woman to his left. “My friends,” T’Challa says. “May I introduce you to the Queen Mother, Ramonda.”

“Welcome,” she says, her voice melodic. “We have rooms ready for you. The time for fighting is over, and now is the time for rest for all of our warriors.”

Bruce leans in close to Tony’s ear. “Why do I want to worship at her altar?”

“Because you’re not blind,” Tony mutters.

“I’m so tired,” Bruce mutters.

Aneka comes up between them, “This way, gentlemen.”

Tony realizes that this isn’t his show, if it ever had been. T’Challa is the king, and the Avengers know this world better than he does now. They’ve stopped Thanos, and Tony isn’t the head of Stark Industries. About the only thing he needs to worry about right now is Bruce.

And right now, Bruce needs sleep, and so does Tony.

Aneka leads them to the quarters that have apparently been assigned to them, and Bruce pauses at the door to say, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

She smiles. “Thank you, Dr. Banner. I’m pleased that you are safe as well. And Mr. Stark.”

Tony is too tired to rise to the bait. “Thanks. Someone has to watch Bruce’s back.”

They strip off their clothing and just fall into bed. “I should shower,” Bruce mutters.

“Eh, later,” Tony says, flopping onto his back. “Do you know what I just realized?”

“Hm?” Bruce sounds as though he’s about ready to pass out.

“I have absolutely nothing to do tomorrow.”

“Well, you could always do me,” Bruce says, and then he’s asleep.

Tony blinks up at the ceiling, and then he’s drifting off.

At least until the nightmare wakes him.

He’d been falling through the rip in space again, landing on Sakaar, and getting stuck there again.

Tony rolls out of bed, dragging on the clothing he’d left on the floor, not wanting to wake Bruce up, but needing some air. He steps into the hallway, expecting to find a guard, but there’s no one there. He does see an open door at the end of the hall, and it looks as though it opens up onto a balcony.

He pads down the cool marble towards the smell of fresh air in his bare feet, and he finds Brunnhilde, sitting with her legs hanging off the ledge, leaning against the railing.

Tony realizes that she doesn’t have a bottle in her hand. “Hey.”

Brunnhilde tilts her head back to look at him, then back up at the night sky, so full of stars. “You should be asleep.”

“I was, until I couldn’t,” Tony says. “I didn’t want to wake Bruce. You should be asleep, too.”

“I’m Asgardian,” she says. “We don’t need as much sleep as humans do.”

Tony sits down next to her and lets his legs dangle. “I have no idea what I’m going to do next.”

“Anything you want, Mr. Metal Mojo Man,” Brunnhilde replies. “That’s the beauty of not being on Sakaar.”

He doesn’t know if it’s that simple, but he asks her, “What are you going to do next?”

“I’m sorry, but have you met Thor?” she asks. “He might be the king, but he’s still an idiot. And Loki is an even bigger idiot. I’m going to be keeping them on the straight and narrow.”

Tony laughs. “Yeah, you have a point.”

“I really miss the hot tub,” Bruce says from behind them. He drops down next to Tony.

“I thought you were asleep,” Tony says.

“I was, until I realized you weren’t in the bed anymore,” Bruce replies, leaning into him. “Hey, Angry Girl. Thanks for keeping us on track today.”

“I got your back, big guy,” Brunnhilde replies with a smile.

And then it’s the three of them under an alien sky together, and Tony thinks that all skies might be alien to him now.

But the company can’t be beat.

~~~~~

Bruce has no idea what he’s doing in this conference room. He doesn’t feel as though he belongs here, but T’Challa had insisted.

“What happens in this room will affect you, my friend,” he’d said. “And you deserve to be there.”

It’s been three days since the battle, and the dust is still settling. Fury has been in touch, as have most of the world leaders, and they’re all gathering to decide what to do next, although it’s very clear that T’Challa and Steve are taking the lead.

Tony has been worryingly quiet, but not shut down the way he had been when they first got back to Earth. He’s been talking to Brunnhilde and Rhodey a lot, and Bruce thinks that makes sense. They both represent parts of his past that Tony has to somehow reconcile.

For his part, Bruce has been trying to stay busy. Shuri has been incredibly welcoming, allowing Bruce to see Wakandan technology up close, and Bruce has been doing what he can to help.

Not that he’s much help, but he’s fine just being an extra set of hands on occasion.

Now, they’re in a large conference room, with holographic versions of some of the top world leaders, including the President of the U.S., the Secretary-General of the U.N., the head of the Joint Chiefs, and other members of the World Security Council. Bruce would really rather not draw attention to himself by even being in the room, but T’Challa’s insistence that he belongs means that he’s here.

Under the table, Tony squeezes his leg in reassurance, and Bruce tries to calm his anxiety.

“We’re grateful for everything the Avengers have done to protect our planet,” the President says. “But I was told that this Thanos person was after items of great power. Is that correct?”

“He did not find them here, which is the important thing,” T’Challa says evenly. “I believe Thanos may have been mistaken about the location of these items.”

No one seated at the table says anything about the stones that Thanos brought with him, or the Mind Stone that had been in T’Challa’s vault, or the Time Stone currently hanging around Strange’s neck.

Bruce feels Tony squeeze his leg a little harder, but they both maintain their poker faces.

One of the members of the World Security Council—Bruce doesn’t remember his name—frowns. “Didn’t Thanos have some of those stones with him?”

“They were destroyed in the battle,” Steve lies with a completely straight face. “It turns out they couldn’t stand up to the powers of a god.”

“I do apologize for that,” Thor rumbles. “But I judged it more important to stop Thanos from destroying half the life in the universe.”

“If the stones really do have that much power, perhaps it’s for the best that they were destroyed,” the Secretary-General says. “For anyone to have that power, it’s too great a risk.”

Not everyone appears convinced that the stones were destroyed, but in the face of all the Avengers insisting that they had been, there’s really nothing they can say.

Well, they could demand to search Wakanda, but that’s not going to fly with the king.

“I agree,” T’Challa says evenly. “Even without all of the stones, Thanos was formidable. All of those present around this table played a key role in his defeat, along with the Asgardians, and my own people.”

“That does bring us to the next order of business,” the Secretary-General says. “Thor, it is my understanding that you are the king of Asgard now.”

“That is true,” Thor replies. “King T’Challa has been a most gracious host, and he has offered us asylum for the time being.”

The Secretary-General smiles, looking truly pleased. “The King of Norway has spoken with his government, and they would be happy to offer Asgard a place as well. There are a number of villages that have been abandoned, and stand ready for your occupancy.”

“On behalf of my people, I am happy to accept the offer,” Thor replies. “I look forward to speaking with his majesty and personally thanking him.”

Thor is charming and kingly, and Bruce suspects that this has been a trial of fire for him, where he’s been able to become the king he was apparently always meant to be.

“Of course,” Thor continues, and now there’s a hint of thunder in his voice. “Asgard is grateful to Iron Man and Dr. Banner for their assistance in saving her people, which is why I have offered both of them a place with us.”

Thor had mentioned something like that, but Bruce hadn’t realized that he was going to lay it out like that, or with the threat in his voice.

“And, of course, for their assistance in defeating Thanos, we are pleased to host them as honored guests for as long as they should wish it,” T’Challa adds.

Maybe Tony doesn’t need that kind of protection, but to Bruce, knowing that there are two safe places for him on Earth means he’s a lot more comfortable staying here if that’s what they decide to do.

And then Steve clears his throat. “The Avengers would also take it amiss if Dr. Banner was threatened in any way, and I think you all know what happens when both T’Challa and I take exception to something.”

There’s a collective indrawn breath, and Bruce would really like to know the story behind that threat.

“I think we can agree that it benefits us all if Dr. Banner is willing to assist with any planetary threats,” the President says after a pause. “You won’t have any problems with my administration, Dr. Banner. I can’t make any promises regarding future administrations, but I think you have all the promises you need.”

Bruce has to swallow hard past the lump in his throat. “Yes, I think I do. Thank you, though.”

“Mr. Stark, I also want to personally welcome you home,” the President says. “It was a sad day when we thought you’d been killed.”

Tony nods tightly. “I very much appreciate that, Mr. President.”

“That being said, I’d take it as a favor if you’d find a way to have a meeting with Ms. Potts at your earliest convenience,” the President says. “I’ve tried explaining to her that she would need a personal invitation and safe passage from King T’Challa in order to visit Wakanda, but the woman is mildly terrifying.”

“That could be her middle name,” Tony admits, some humor creeping into his voice. “I’ll make arrangements.”

“Good.” The President says—and Bruce really should remember his name, but the administration changed since he’d been chased off the planet. He has enough going on to not be able to remember everyone’s names. “Then if we’re all agreed, I think that takes care of our business.”

“How can we be sure that those stones are destroyed?” the same member of the World Security Council demands.

“This is King T’Challa,” the Secretary-General says. “I suggest you keep a civil tongue in your head and refrain from accusing him of lying.”

“Thank you, Mr. Secretary,” T’Challa says. “We do have matters of rebuilding to discuss.”

All the images wink out at once, and Bruce lets out a breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

“Did you not think we would protect you, Dr. Banner?” T’Challa asks gently.

Bruce laughs. “To be honest, I’m still kind of getting used to the idea of having people around who give a shit.” He’s too overwhelmed to have a filter.

That causes just about everyone around the table to either smile or laugh.

“We need to decide what we’re going to do about the stones,” Steve points out. “I know we all agreed that we were going to tell people that they were destroyed, but that leaves open the question of what we’re going to do with them.”

“The Time Stone remains with me,” Strange says, sounding a little prickly.

“Did anyone suggest otherwise?” Tony asks snidely.

Tony and Strange definitely rub each other the wrong way, and it’s probably a good thing that they don’t need to spend much time together after this.

“No one is suggesting that,” Natasha says, and Bruce can see her give Strange a quelling look. “But that does leave the question of what to do with the others.”

“They can’t stay in one place,” Thor says. “Part of why we were able to defeat Thanos is because the Tesseract was destroyed in the fires of Ragnarok. We might not be able to destroy the others, but we can make them very difficult to find.”

“How many deserted planets are there?” Tony asks. “Because we could find a few and then hide them under a mountain or in an unbreakable vault. I’m just spitballing here.”

Strange actually looks thoughtful at that. “If we created some boobytraps, with no one knowing where they are, or which one is protecting which stone…”

“It will take some planning,” T’Challa says, “and even the people in this room should not know all the details. We will need to be careful.”

From the grip Tony has on Bruce’s leg, it’s kind of killing him that he’s not the center of attention, but he’s not demanding it either.

For Bruce, it’s just enough that he has a guaranteed safe space.

They break up after that, but Tony stays seated, and Bruce also stays. So do Steve, Natasha, Thor, Barnes, and T’Challa. Barton headed home the day before, citing a need to be with his family. Strange also stays, his expression impassive until the others have filed out. “I can take you to Miss Potts, Mr. Stark, and then back to Wakanda if you’d like.”

Tony nods tightly. “Thank you.”

Steve’s expression is full of sympathy. “I can’t imagine how difficult this is, Tony.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Tony says, his tone hostile.

Bruce sits up a little straighter. “Tony and I can help with one or more of the aspects of hiding the stones, whether that’s creating the hiding places or hiding the stones themselves.”

“I think we should focus on our next steps,” Natasha says firmly with a glance at Tony. “The longer the stones are in a single location, the more danger there is. Some of Thanos’ minions were able to escape, and they know at least some of the stones survived. I think we should set a deadline.”

“Very wise,” T’Challa says. “I agree.”

That turns the topic of conversation onto something safer, and less emotionally fraught.

When they break up, they have a preliminary plan and timeline, and Bruce follows Tony out, tossing a hard look over his shoulder when it looks like Steve is going to follow them.

“No,” Bruce mouths. “Not now.”

Rhodes had excused himself from the planning session, saying that it wasn’t his strong suit, but he’s waiting for them in the hall. “You okay?” he asks.

“Bruce is safe, that’s the most important thing,” Tony says tightly. “I can’t believe Pepper did that.”

Rhodes frowns at him. “You’ve been dodging her calls. You had to know that would come back to bite you in the ass.”

Tony shrugs. “I didn’t know she had the President’s direct line.”

“Even if she didn’t have it before, she’d have found a way to get it,” Rhodes points out. “You know how determined she is.”

“Did you tell her about the meeting today?” Tony asks, as they walk down a corridor. Bruce trails along behind them, wondering if he should excuse himself. He feels like this is a private conversation.

Rhodes just gives Tony a look. “She asked what it was going to take to keep you on the planet, and I said that it would probably take a guarantee of safety for Banner. Pepper said she’d make a call.”

“So, she calls the President,” Tony mutters.

Bruce can tell that doesn’t sit well with Tony, and he can’t exactly blame Tony for his feelings.

“Look, why don’t you take Strange up on his offer and rip off the bandaid,” Rhodes urges. “Just get it over with.”

Tony stops and looks at Bruce. “What do you think I should do?”

Bruce feels as though he’s been put on the spot, but he doesn’t disagree with Rhodes. “She probably just wants to put her own guilt to bed, Tony.”

“What guilt?” Tony asks. “She thought I was dead and moved on. There’s nothing to feel guilt about.”

Bruce just raises his eyebrows. “Sure. But we both know that feelings aren’t facts, and the opposite is also true.”

Tony sighs and looks at Rhodes. “What time is it in California?”

Rhodes looks at his watch. “Give it a few more hours, and you can probably catch her in her office with her first cup of coffee.”

“I’m going to find Strange,” Tony announces.

He stalks off and Rhodes watches him go. “Are you going to volunteer to hide one of those stones? Because I think it would do Tony some good to get off the planet and let everyone come to terms with the fact that he’s still alive.”

“Why do you say that?” Bruce asks.

“Because Tony being here is like him wearing a set of clothes that’s just a little too small,” Rhodes replies. “It feels familiar, it feels like it should fit, and the fact that it doesn’t just drives you that much crazier.”

Bruce feels the light dawn. Tony had become someone else on Sakaar. Bruce hadn’t; he’d been himself—his other self—the entire time. But the Tony Stark who flew a nuke through space had died, and no one here knows who he is now.

It’s easier for Bruce. He hadn’t known Tony, not really, although the chemistry had been there from the beginning. He doesn’t see the differences, but then he wouldn’t.

Rhodes would, though.

“You don’t seem to be having a hard time with it,” Bruce replies.

Rhodes laughs. “I already saw him change once, after Afghanistan. As soon as I saw him again, I knew Tony had another transformation. I had a hard time accepting it the first time, and there was a lot of damage done to our friendship. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.”

“Then why would you even advocate for me being able to stay on the planet?” Bruce asks.

“Because if you have a safe place here, Tony might actually come back,” Rhodes replies. “And I missed my friend.”

Bruce takes a deep breath. “I’ll do my best to take care of him.”

“I know that,” Rhodes replies. “You’ve done great so far. I’m gonna be honest, I kind of like the Hulk. He’s great in the event of an alien invasion.”

Bruce laughs. “I promise I’m good in case you need a nuclear physicist.”

“I think you’re probably good in a few other situations, too,” Rhodes offers. “Like escaping an alien planet. Gives me faith that you can probably get him off another if necessary.”

“I hope that faith isn’t misplaced,” Bruce admits.

Rhodes gives him a long look and smiles. “Nah. I don’t think it is. There are people you just know will come through in the clutch. Tony’s one of those people. I think you are, too.”

Bruce really hopes Rhodes is right, but he’s beginning to have a little faith.

~~~~~

Tony hates asking Strange for a favor, even though it had been offered. He could probably ask for a ride to an airport outside of Wakanda, ask Pepper to send the Stark Industries jet, and make it back that way.

But that would mean days away from Bruce, from Brunnhilde, and going to a place where no one knows really knows him. Tony doesn’t mind spending time with Rhodey, who’s always taken him as he comes.

Mostly. But Rhodey has been open and supportive, and he’s said that he doesn’t have to get back to work right away.

If Tony takes Strange up on his offer, he doesn’t have to deal with the public, and he can get this whole thing over with.

He’s not exactly sure where to find Strange, but the man seems to be waiting for him right in front of the conference room.

“I thought you might take me up on my offer,” Strange says, and he seems uncharacteristically sincere. “I know what it’s like to say goodbye to an old life.”

Tony hates everything about this, including the knowing look that Strange has on his face.

“And you hate me,” Strange says. “It’s fine. Most people do, but I tend to grow on a person.”

“Like a pernicious fungus?” Tony snaps.

“If you like,” Strange replies.

“Why is everyone treating me like I’m fragile?” Tony asks, knowing that he’s snarling, but he doesn’t feel like he can lash out at Rhodey, because he just got him back, and Bruce doesn’t deserve it.

But Tony kind of wants to punch Strange in his smug face.

Strange shrugs. “I’m sure I don’t know, and I don’t really care, but frankly, not many people have met a dead man before. They probably assume there’s some trauma.”

“But I didn’t die,” Tony replies.

“Didn’t you?” Strange asks.

Tony stares at him, and he realizes just how true that is. “Rhodey said I should wait a few hours before I surprise Pepper.”

Strange pauses to think about it. “That makes sense. I could deposit you directly in her apartment.”

“She’s dating an old friend of mine,” Tony says tightly. “So, no.”

“Meet me back here in three hours then,” Strange says.

Tony wants to snap back an insult, but he decides not to waste his breath. If he can find Bruce, they’ll have three hours to kill, and Tony can explore just how dead he isn’t.

If Bruce is willing, of course.

When he heads back towards the area of the palace where their quarters are, he finds Bruce and Rhodey chatting in the hall, both of them looking relaxed.

“So, here’s this pipsqueak with a swagger bigger than he is,” Rhodey is saying. “There were a few people who definitely thought he bought his way into MIT, but then he unveils DUM-E, which was incredibly advanced for the time. Nothing like Jarvis, but impressive.”

“Are you talking about me?”

Rhodey smiles easily. “Sure am. Banner asked how we originally met.”

“I don’t even remember that kid,” Tony replies.

“You still are that kid,” Rhodey replies. “But you do have a few more layers of paint. I need to get to a conference call, but let me know if you need to talk after you get done with Pepper.”

Tony takes a deep breath. “Rhodey.”

“You don’t even need to say it,” Rhodey replies.

And then he hauls Tony into a hug. “Let Banner take care of you. He seems to be down for it.”

“Thanks,” Tony says, and then he pulls back. “Really.”

“Good to have you back,” Rhodey says.

Rhodey leaves, and Bruce gives Tony a long look. “I really miss that hot tub, and I didn’t even get to enjoy it much as myself.”

Tony laughs. “How about a bed?”

“Sure, let’s try a bed,” Bruce replies with a smile. “I mean, we have a moment.”

“We have three whole hours,” Tony replies. “And then when I get this taken care of, we have whatever time we take for ourselves.”

They head to their quarters, and Tony hates to admit it, but the mattress is the best he’s ever slept on.

Or maybe that’s just because Tony has been sleeping on a trash planet for the last six years.

Bruce lays down, but he props himself on an elbow. “Rhodes said something that I thought was pretty accurate. Can I run it past you?”

Tony nods. “Hit me with it.”

“He thought being here was a lot like wearing clothing that was just a little bit too small, and the fact that it should feel familiar, makes it that much worse,” Bruce says.

Tony pauses for a moment. “Yeah. Strange said something that made sense, too, much as I hate to admit it.”

“Strange is an asshole,” Bruce replies. “But I’ve heard he’s a genius, so he probably makes sense on occasion.”

Tony barks a laugh. “Yeah, well, I said I hadn’t died, and he asked if I hadn’t.”

“What is death really?” Bruce muses. “You could say that I died when I first became the Hulk, you know.”

“I like who you are now,” Tony replies.

“But maybe you wouldn’t have liked me before,” Bruce counters. “I was—am—kind of an asshole.”

“Takes one to know one,” Tony counters.

Bruce smiles. “Tell me you’re not attracted to Strange.”

Tony makes a gagging sound. “Please, no.”

“Okay,” Bruce says. “So, maybe we do something that reminds you you’re not dead.”

“I thought you’d never offer,” Tony replies, wanting nothing more than to forget.

Bruce moves closer, and Tony rolls onto his back. Bruce takes the hint and moves on top of Tony. They’re both still clothed, wearing the trousers and shirts that have continued to show up in their quarters.

Bruce is slow and careful, and Tony appreciates that. Maybe that’s mostly for Bruce’s sake, but it suits Tony just fine. Bruce buries a hand in Tony’s hair and presses his lips to Tony’s, and the kiss quickly goes deeper.

Tongue comes into play, and then Bruce pulls back. “Is this okay?”

“More, please,” Tony says.

“You’re not just saying that because you’re going to see Pepper in a few hours, right?” Bruce asks.

Tony thinks it’s Bruce’s insecurity talking. “I’m saying that because you’re fucking hot, and I’ve thought that since the first time I laid eyes on you. The fact that you’re also pretty awesome and good in an emergency, is just icing on the case.”

Bruce smiles. “Rhodes said I was good in the clutch.”

“I knew you’d show up in Manhattan, and you’ve showed up on every occasion since,” Tony says.

Bruce leans in for another kiss, and then desire takes over. They somehow manage to shed their clothing without ever completely losing contact.

Bruce runs a hand over the arc reactor, but in a way that’s clearly admiring. He touches the scars with a thumb, then follows it with his lips.

Tony had no idea. Pepper had avoided the arc reactor and the scars around it, but then Bruce kisses just below it, and Tony groans.

“Okay?” Bruce asks.

“Please,” Tony says.

Bruce runs his hand down Tony’s now-bare thigh as he moves down. “I want everything here to be something you want.”

“You can put your mouth anywhere you want to put it,” Tony replies.

“Well, I’m probably out of practice, but here we go,” Bruce says, and then he puts his mouth on Tony’s dick.

And maybe there had been more skilled people who had sucked his dick on Sakaar, but they hadn’t been people Tony cared about.

Bruce clearly cares about getting off, but he also cares about making him feel something other than just an orgasm.

Tony threads a hand through Bruce’s curls. “Bruce.”

“I’ve got you,” Bruce says, and goes back down.

“What about you?” Tony asks.

“Oh, I’m going to get off,” Bruce assures him when he pauses to take a breath. “Don’t worry about that right now.”

Tony props himself up. “You aren’t treating me like I’m fragile, right?”

Bruce snorts and rolls his eyes. “No, but this is the first time I’ve been laid in recent memory so forgive me if I want to draw it out.”

Tony flops back down. “Sorry. Point made. Take your time.”

Tony would swear that just for that, Bruce just draws it out that much longer. But Tony can feel that Bruce wants him, that he cares for him. It’s not just sex for the sake of sex, and then Bruce says, “I suggest I get us both off with my hand, and save penetrative sex for another time, because that’s going to take time that I don’t really want to take.”

“Yeah,” Tony says. “Sounds good.”

Bruce blankets his body with his own, wrapping a broad, callused hand around both of their cocks, using his saliva and Tony’s pre-cum as lube.

They’re both coming in a couple of strokes, and Tony says, “You got off on that?”

“Little bit,” Bruce admits. “And you needed it, you got off on it, and I got off on you getting off.”

Tony looks at him, and he says, “I am really happy you wound up on Sakaar. I’m sorry if that sounds insensitive.”

“Since I’m not mad about it either, given the outcome, I don’t think it’s insensitive,” Bruce replies, collapsing next to him. “We’re safe, I’m safe, and we saved the Earth.”

“Maybe we still would have done that without spending years on a trash planet,” Tony points out.

“Maybe,” Bruce allows. “But how would we ever know? I think it’s best not to dwell on it.”

Tony stares up at the ceiling, and he has to acknowledge that there’s some wisdom in what Bruce is saying, even though he wants to keep poking the what-if of it all like a bruise. “You’re right.”

“I won’t tell you that you need to let it go,” Bruce says. “But I don’t know that you’re ever going to get the answers you’re looking for, Tony. You survived Sakaar; so did I. We saved a lot of people.”

“I still think I need to get off the planet for a while,” Tony admits.

“Why should we be stuck here?” Bruce asks with a smile. “Let’s do some exploring, hide a stone or two, maybe save another planet while we’re at it.”

“Now, that sounds like a plan,” Tony replies.

The shower is big enough to allow them to get cleaned up together, and Tony pulls on trousers and a clean t-shirt.

Bruce pulls him into a hug before he can leave their quarters. “Just get through this, and then we can focus on getting rid of the stones, okay?”

Tony presses his face into the side of Bruce’s neck. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” Bruce replies. “I’m getting as much out of this as you are, Tony.”

Considering what they had just been doing, and how into it Bruce had been, Tony has to concede the point. In lieu of a verbal reply, Tony gives Bruce a long, heated kiss, and then he leaves before he can change his mind about going.

He heads for the conference room where he’s supposed to meet Strange. Tony is a bit early, and he finds Steve already there with Barnes, Wilson, and Natasha.

Tony hesitates at the door, but he’s going to be working closely with all of them until they’re ready to scatter the stones, and he’s already going to be facing Pepper today.

Steve glances up as Tony enters. “Hey. Everything okay?”

“It’s fine,” Tony insists. “Bruce and I are up for hiding one or more of the stones, whether that means sticking it under a mountain or finding a supernova to toss it in.”

Steve nods. “Sounds good. Are you going to need a ship?”

Tony shrugs. “I don’t know yet. It depends on whether Thor lets me borrow one of the ships we stole from Sakaar. If not, I’ll build something.”

“Just like that?” Natasha asks with a raised eyebrow.

“All I’ve been doing is building shit,” Tony says bluntly. “Although I’d prefer to retrofit, since that’s going to fit the timeline better.”

Wilson shrugs. “Makes sense to me. I love the job you did on my wings, by the way. They worked great.”

“Good,” Tony replies. “If you want me to take another look now that I have more time, I’m happy to do it.”

Wilson’s grin is blinding. “Hell yeah.”

Barnes is just eyeing Tony watchfully, not saying much, and Tony isn’t sure what, if anything, to do with him. Intellectually, he understands what Steve had told him, that Barnes had been a brainwashed assassin behind the murders of his parents, but Tony is having a hard time believing it.

For decades, he’d believed that his parents died in a car accident, and there’s part of him that would rather continue to believe that story.

Also, Steve and Barnes seem to be attached at the hip, and until he and Bruce can leave the planet, they’re going to be spending time together by necessity.

So, Tony decides to set it aside and bury it deep, the way he’s done so many times.

“Stark,” Steve begins.

Of course, Tony is only going to be able to ignore it if Steve lets it go.

And then Strange says from behind him, “Are you ready to leave?”

“Saved by the wizard,” Tony mutters, although not so quietly that he can’t be heard by the others. Wilson snorts a laugh, and Barnes and Natasha both crack a smile. Steve just looks confused.

“Where are you going?” Steve asks.

“I’m going to talk to my ex-girlfriend so she stops using world leaders to pass notes,” Tony quips. “So, if you’ll excuse me, it shouldn’t take too long.”

He turns to Strange, who’s already creating a portal out of orange sparks. “We’re going to the front lobby of the Los Angeles headquarters of Stark Industries,” Strange says. “Do you have a phone?”

“I haven’t had a phone since I flew a nuke into space,” Tony replies. “And I haven’t exactly had time to get one.”

“Here,” Steve says, and when Tony turns to look at him, he tosses a cell phone Tony’s way. “It has all of our numbers, including Strange’s.”

Tony looks at the old flip phone and shrugs, shoving it into his back pocket. “Thanks.”

The portal opens. Strange waves him through, and Tony steps into the lobby of the Los Angeles headquarters for the first time in six years.

There’s a hush that falls over everyone present, including the receptionist and about half a dozen other people. Tony knows that his appearance has changed slightly—his hair is longer, and his beard fuller, although he had taken time to trim it.

But from the stares, he’s still recognizable. Then again, while Tony hasn’t been watching the news, he assumes the entire planet knows he’s returned from the dead.

The receptionist stands slowly. “Mr.—Mr. Stark, we weren’t expecting you.”

“Call me when you’re ready to leave,” Strange says. “I’ll be standing by.”

He leaves in a shower of sparks, and now Tony’s standing in a lobby of a building that is both utterly familiar and completely foreign. He takes a deep breath and pastes on a smile for the receptionist. “Hi, I don’t suppose Miss Potts is available.”

“Was, um, was she expecting you, sir?” the receptionist asks, sounding absolutely terrified to tell him no.

“Mr. Stark!”

Tony kind of expected someone to get Happy on the horn, given how many people had been on their cell phones when he entered the lobby.

Happy looks almost panicked, though, and Tony decides to short-circuit that by pulling Happy into a hug as soon as he’s close enough. “Missed you.”

Happy hugs him back. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Tony asks as he pulls back.

“For not protecting you,” Happy replies helplessly. “And because—Pepper said she told you.”

“I’m just glad someone was there for her, and I’m glad it was you,” Tony replies. “Do you think she has time for me? I got her note from the President.”

“You’ve been ducking her calls,” Happy says in a scolding tone, which makes Tony remember the old days.

“Yeah, well, it’s awkward,” Tony admits. “But I’m here now.”

“To stay?” Happy asks, somewhat anxiously, but Tony thinks he sounds hopeful, too.

Tony shakes his head. “I’m not sure yet, but I can take care of some business while I’m here.”

Happy sighs. “Come on, I’ll take you upstairs. If Pep hasn’t already heard about you being here, I’d be surprised.”

“She usually knows everything, even when she doesn’t let on to it,” Tony says, allowing Happy to lead him to the elevators.

There are subtle changes in the decor and the layout that remind him of the passage of time. Tony remembers what Rhodey told Bruce, that this life feels like a set of clothing that’s just a little too small, and Tony knows that he’s going to need to leave the planet and maybe come back on occasion.

At least that should make things easier for Pepper and Happy.

Tony follows Happy to a familiar office, and he can see through the glass doors that Pepper redecorated since he left. He doesn’t recognize the couch, or the art on the walls.

Happy raps on the glass door, and then pushes it open. “Come find me before you leave, okay?” Happy asks.

“You can stay,” Tony replies.

Happy shakes his head. “No, I’ll leave you to get reacquainted.”

Tony takes a deep breath. His prior conversation with Pepper had been fairly short. Pepper had been emotional and apologetic about dating someone else; Tony had felt awkward, as though he was talking to a stranger.

He steps through the door, and Pepper is in his arms a moment later, hugging him tightly. “Oh, god, Tony. Tony.”

“Hey, I’m okay,” Tony says. “I’m okay. Everything is going to be fine.”

Pepper is tough, and he can feel her shake a bit, but then she pulls back with a tremulous smile. She’s wearing a black sheathe dress and red heels, her strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a sleek chignon. She rests her hands on his shoulders. “You look good.”

“I’m fine,” Tony assures her. “Came through the battle without a bruise.”

“I’m glad,” she replies with a smile that firms up after a moment. “We should—we should talk. I have some ideas, but—“

“I had a will for a reason, Pep,” Tony replies, stepping out of reach. “The company is yours.”

“Well, I know that,” Pepper says with asperity. “And I know you better than that, but I might have made some arrangements. Let’s sit.”

They both sit in the chairs in front of Pepper’s desk, rather than Pepper sitting behind it.

“Tell me, do you have anyone in your life right now?” Pepper asks.

Tony snorts. “Funny you should ask, but yes. Bruce Banner.”

“The Hulk?” Pepper asks, clearly surprised.

Tony shrugs. “He’s brilliant and easy on the eyes when he isn’t green. I might have a type.”

“Well, from what I’ve heard and seen, you’re right on both counts,” Pepper admits. “Was he—was he on—what was that planet again?”

“Sakaar,” Tony supplies, “and yes. Well, it was the Hulk for a couple of years, and then Bruce at the end and pretty much since. We were friends first.”

“I would assume,” Pepper replies with a hint of mischief. “I know you aren’t a masochist.”

There’s a hint of a question in her voice, and Tony says, “He is proportional, so you’d be correct about that.”

Pepper takes a deep breath and reaches for his hand. “I’m glad. It makes me feel less guilty.”

Tony takes a deep breath, and he knows that Bruce had been right. Pepper needs to put her guilt and grief to bed, and Tony can help with that. “Pep, at some point on Sakaar, I was certain that I wasn’t going to leave that place alive, and I had to give up on everything I had here. I wouldn’t have wanted you to do anything other than move on and be happy.”

“Thank you,” Pepper says after a moment. “It took me a long time.”

“I know, but I want you to be happy, more than anything else,” Tony says. “Are you happy?”

“I am,” Pepper admits. “Happiness kind of snuck up on me.”

Tony knows that it’s a bit of a pun. “It can do that sometimes.”

“That said, I started a trust just in case,” Pepper adds. “That’s part of why I feel so guilty. I didn’t completely believe that you were dead.”

“So?” Tony asks. “You didn’t have me here, and you deserve to be happy, so it doesn’t matter. What do you mean by a trust?”

“A percentage of the profits every year has been funneled into the trust since you disappeared,” Pepper explains. “It’s set up to pay out to you or any offspring that you might have had.”

When Tony stares at her, she says quickly, “It was the best explanation I could come up with for doing it when everyone kept telling me that you were definitely dead. And I just kept listening to your last voicemail message and thinking that there was a chance you weren’t.”

“So, I have an income,” Tony replies, not really wanting to touch that.

“It’s sizable at this point,” she admits. “Five percent of Stark Industries’ profits over six years with compounding interest tends to grow quickly, and I put a really good person in charge of it. It will continue to grow, in fact.”

Tony blows out a breath. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I didn’t, but I’m glad that I did,” Pepper insists. “It gives you the freedom you need.”

Tony swallows. “How did you know?”

“Rhodey might have called me,” she admits. “He said you were struggling.”

Tony sighs. “I hate to admit this, but the planet went on without me.”

Pepper smiles. “Maybe, but some of us found it difficult.”

“It’s a little bit of a letdown to find out that I’m not the only one who can bring about world peace,” Tony admits, because it’s Pepper, and she’s seen him at his worst and still somehow loved him.

Pepper squeezes his hand. “There’s nothing wrong with being part of a team.”

“No, I know that,” Tony admits. “We saved the world together.”

Pepper pulls back, and Tony can feel her letting go, and he knows that they’re putting a period on their story. “I’m always going to love you.”

“I’m always going to love you, too,” Tony says. “And I couldn’t have left SI in better hands.”

They both stand, and Pepper pulls him in for another hug. “I did miss you. Are you sticking around?”

“For a while,” Tony says. “We have an errand to run that’s going to take us off the planet, and we might need to either retrofit or build a ship. I’ll definitely come see you before we leave, though.”

“Good,” Pepper replies. “I’m glad you came today.”

“Both Rhodey and Happy told me I was ducking your calls,” Tony admits.

Pepper laughs. “You hate phone calls, but I knew if I mentioned you to the President you’d show up.”

Tony shakes his head. Pepper does have a way of getting him to do things without coming at him directly, but Tony has become used to the directness of Brunnhilde or Bruce, and the Grandmaster has put him off passive aggressiveness forever.

“Well, however it happened, I’m glad I came,” Tony replies.

There’s another hug, and then Pepper says, “I do have a meeting I have to get to.”

“Thanks for making the time,” Tony replies.

And as much shit as Pepper gave him for being Iron Man, she’s just as distracted by being the CEO of SI—and she’s better at it than Tony had ever been.

“For you, almost always,” Pepper replies.

“I promise not to bug you too much,” Tony says. “Just send me the account information, because I’m borrowing whatever clothing I can at this point.”

“Well, we can’t have you not looking your best,” Pepper jokes. “But do you even have a cell phone now?”

Tony pulls out the phone he’d been given. “Not much of one.”

“Happy will have you covered,” Pepper assures him.

There’s another quick hug, and then Tony leaves her office, and he thinks that maybe they’re both exactly where they need to be.

There’s a secretary outside, and she looks at Tony. “I’ve been told that Mr. Hogan would like to see you before you leave, sir. He’s in his office just down the hall, third door on the right.”

“Thank you very much,” Tony replies.

He heads down the hall and knocks on the doorjamb to Happy’s open door. “Hey.”

“Come on in,” Happy says, standing. “I think I have everything you need.”

Tony sits down across from him and takes the box that Happy pushes across the desk. When he opens it, there’s a phone, a tablet, and a laptop. “All the account details are preloaded, and your fingerprint should unlock it.”

Tony starts up the laptop, and it works just as promised. He finds the account information easily, and sees the balance.

“Pepper wanted to make sure you were taken care of,” Happy says a little awkwardly. “Just in case, you know.”

Tony closes the laptop. “I can see that, and I do appreciate it.”

“Are you sticking around?” Happy asks.

Tony shakes his head, feeling the confines of a life that no longer fits him. “No, I have to head back to Wakanda. We have a mission to accomplish, and I’ll probably be out of touch for a while.”

“Not too long, I hope,” Happy replies with an uncertain smile.

“I guess we’ll see how long it takes us to complete the mission,” Tony replies, standing up and tucking the box under his arm. “Thanks for taking care of Pepper, Happy.”

Happy bobs his head. “Of course, and whatever I can do, Mr. Stark. You just have to ask.”

“I know that,” Tony replies.

Happy comes back around the desk, and Tony allows himself to be pulled in for another hug. “We’ll take care of the place, sir.”

“I know everything is in good hands,” Tony replies.

“Do you need a ride?” Happy asks anxiously.

Tony shakes his head. “No, I’m traveling by wizard express today, and I really do need to get back to Wakanda.”

“Good luck,” Happy replies, and Tony pulls out the phone that Steve had given him, dialing Strange’s number.

“Are you done already?” Strange asks when he picks up.

“Yeah, I am,” Tony says, and he feels it in his bones.

He is done here.

Strange hangs up, and Tony tucks the flip phone away as orange sparks appear in the air.

“That’s different,” Happy comments.

Tony just laughs. “Yeah, that’s not even the strangest thing I’ve seen this week.”

The portal opens, and Tony sees the conference room in Wakanda on the other side, along with Steve, Natasha, Barnes, Wilson, T’Challa—and Bruce.

Bruce, who looks up with a welcoming smile, and warmth in his eyes, and Tony steps through the portal and into his future.

~~~~~

Bruce runs a hand through his hair and looks around the interior of the ship. They had to retrofit the one they’d stolen for a longer-term trip, and there have been a few flying lessons from Brunnhilde, but it’s done now.

“Hey,” Tony says, slinging an arm over Bruce’s shoulders. “How are you doing?”

Bruce leans into him. “Me? I’m fine. What about you?”

Tony presses his lips to Bruce’s temple. “I’m great. Ready to go. I just thought you might have changed your mind about leaving the planet.”

“Definitely not,” Bruce says in surprise. “Why?”

“You’ve been happy here,” Tony points out, as he leads the way off the ship into the hangar where they have it parked.

Bruce tilts his head back to look up at the blue skies of Wakanda, feeling the warmth of the sun. “I have been, but at least 90 percent of that is being here with you. Besides, we have a job to do.”

Tony lets out a breath. “I suppose we do. I just don’t want you to feel like you’re being forced to do something you don’t want to do.”

“We’re leaving because we’re choosing to leave,” Bruce points out. “To hide the Power Stone.”

“True,” Tony says, but he still sounds a little troubled.

Bruce pulls away, putting his hands on Tony’s shoulders. “Have you changed your mind?”

Tony shakes his head. “No, but I figure it’s the two of us together, right?”

“Exactly,” Bruce replies. “Besides, we have a legitimate reason to leave the planet, and I think you need that. When we return, we’ll be doing it on our own terms, because we’re ready to come back.”

Tony pulls him in for a kiss.

“Gentlemen.” T’Challa’s voice is warm with amusement. “Is the ship ready?”

Tony pulls back, and says, “It is. We should be ready to leave tomorrow. I’m sure you’re ready to see the back of us.”

T’Challa shakes his head. “You’ve been excellent guests, and you are both always welcome to return.”

“We’ll see where the solar winds take us,” Bruce replies. He hadn’t been one to dream of going to space in the past, but Bruce feels as though he’s gotten a taste for it now.

Besides, he knows that Tony needs this, and it’s not as though Bruce has anything holding him here.

“I believe that Thor is also planning to leave tomorrow,” T’Challa replies. “If you wouldn’t mind joining us for dinner.”

Bruce glances at Tony, who smiles. “It would be our honor.”

“We should get changed,” Bruce says, feeling a little grimy in the stained trousers and t-shirt he’d been wearing to finish the retrofit.

“I’ll see you there,” T’Challa replies.

They repair to their room and get into the shower together, Tony crowding Bruce against the tile. Under the hot water—which they’re going to be doing without for a while—it’s slick skin against slick skin.

Bruce feels Tony press against him, and he wraps a hand around both their dicks. Tony grabs his ass, and it’s just pure pleasure, a perfect moment in time.

“God, I can’t get over how hot you are,” Tony mutters.

Bruce laughs. “I think you’re talking about yourself.”

“We’re both hot,” Tony says easily, kissing him as he comes, with Bruce following shortly.

As busy as they’ve been over the last few weeks getting the ship in order, they’ve still found time to get some new clothes. Bruce pulls on a pair of black chinos and a purple button-down that Tony said reminded him of the day they’d first met. Tony is dressed much the same, but in charcoal gray and burgundy.

Aneka meets them in the hall, saying, “Please, follow me, gentlemen.”

The return to formality clues Bruce in that the dinner is also going to be on the formal side. In fact, they’re led into a room they’ve never been in before with a long table, set with fine tableware and what is probably crystal.

Steve and Barnes are already there, chatting quietly with Natasha, drinks in their hands. Natasha is in a deep green, form-fitting dress, while Steve and Barnes are also wearing trousers and button-down shirts.

Steve greets them with a smile, his teeth white against his beard. “You guys look nice. T’Challa said you were planning to leave tomorrow?”

Tony nods. “Right on schedule.”

Bruce notices that Tony doesn’t quite look at Barnes, but given the circumstances, civility seems the best they can probably hope for. Maybe with more time, as Tony wraps his head around everything that has happened, it will get easier.

“It will be a relief to have the stones scattered,” Steve admits.

Natasha nods. “I’m still not entirely comfortable even having two of those things on the planet.”

“Strange isn’t going to part with the time stone,” Barnes says dryly. “And none of us know magic.”

“It’s just going to take a little more time to get rid of the Mind Stone,” Steve says. “Fury says his contact should be here in a few weeks.”

The Mind Stone is going to remain in the vault under the palace for now, where it’s been since Steve and the others rescued it from Hydra. Bruce and Tony are going to take the Power Stone and hide it with a pit stop on Vormir, to deposit the Soul Stone back where Thanos had gotten it. Thor is taking the Reality Stone to its hiding place, leaving Brunnhilde behind with Korg to govern, and Fury’s contact will retrieve the Mind Stone and hide it when she arrives.

The locations of the Soul and Time Stones will remain known, but they’re well protected, and the others’ locations will be known only to those directly involved in hiding them.

“I appreciate you two doing this,” Steve says, as though they’re doing him a favor. “I know you just got back.”

Natasha’s smile suggests that she knows just how eager Tony is to leave the planet, and Barnes doesn’t say anything.

Tony just says, “It’s fine. I was stuck on Sakaar for years, and I’m looking forward to seeing a little more of the universe.”

Thor enters the room with Brunnhilde and Loki, all of them wearing Asgardian armor. Loki doesn’t look all that pleased to be there, but Thor has said that he’s going to ensure that someone has eyes on him at all times.

“My friends!” Thor booms. “I’m glad we will be able to eat together again before we have to take our leave.”

T’Challa enters. “Please, everyone, be seated.”

Shuri and Ramonda enter the room, along with some of the Dora Milje and representatives from the other clans from Wakanda.

Bruce has never been to a dinner this formal, but everything is delicious. He’s sitting between Tony and Shuri, and the conversation is lively.

“I do hope you’ll be back,” Shuri says at one point.

Bruce smiles. “Well, if we have this kind of hospitality to look forward to, I think we will.”

After the last course is served, T’Challa gets to his feet. “Thank you all for being here, and for your dedication to protecting our planet, as well as your continued efforts. To peace.”

He raises a glass in a toast, and they all raise a glass and echo him.

Bruce looks around the table, and Tony’s hand finds his.

Tomorrow, he and Tony will be off on a new adventure, but tonight, Bruce feels like he’s a part of something bigger.

It’s a far cry from what he felt when he’d originally left the planet.

And now, Bruce has Tony, too.

~~~~~

There had been a time in Tony’s life when he would have felt at home in a gathering such as this one, surrounded by powerful people and fine things.

Tonight, he has a reminder that Strange had been right. In many ways, Tony had died the day he landed on Sakaar, and he hasn’t figured out who he is yet.

That’s okay, though. Tony has reinvented himself before. At least he’ll have a partner in crime this time around.

As the dinner breaks up, Tony leans close to Bruce’s ear and says, “Can you give me a few minutes? I need to talk to Steve before we leave tomorrow.”

“This have anything to do with that other project you’ve been tinkering with?” Bruce asks. “The suit?”

Tony shrugs. “I’m just trying to keep a promise to a kid. He’ll have enough people disappoint him. I don’t want to be another one.”

Bruce smiles and presses a kiss to Tony’s temple. “You’re a good man, Tony.”

Tony doesn’t know about that, but he appreciates the sentiment.

Bruce wanders out with Brunnhilde, and Tony tries to get Steve’s attention. Maybe Steve had been watching for it, because he touches Barnes’ shoulder and whispers something to Natasha, then approaches Tony.

“Hey, is something up?” Steve asks.

Tony nods. “I was hoping I could ask you for a favor if you’re going to be in New York sometime soon.”

Steve seems surprised by the question, but he nods. “Yeah, we’re going back to New York after you leave. You know I’d do just about anything for you, Tony, at least within reason.”

“There’s something I need to show you in the hangar if you’re good with that,” Tony replies. He’s not trying to be mysterious, but he also doesn’t know how to explain what he’s done.

Steve nods, still wearing that same open expression he’s had around Tony since his return. He seems a far cry from the angry, guarded man Tony had originally met.

But then, Tony’s certainly changed since then. He can’t assume that everyone else stayed the same.

Tony leads the way through the palace, having grown familiar with the layout. The Dora Milaje have stopped following them, and Tony knows that if or when he and Bruce return, they could find a home here.

But Tony is playing with the idea of buying a secluded place, building a new workshop, and finding something useful to do with his time.

He leads the way inside the hangar, and he has a workbench set up, and there’s a hard-sided briefcase on top. “I need you to deliver this to the kid—Peter.”

Steve accepts the case with an expression of dawning recognition. “You built him a suit.”

“I made a promise,” Tony says. “There’s AI in the suit that will serve as training wheels, too. Maybe look in on him once in a while.”

Steve nods slowly. “Yeah, of course. You know I will. Clint, too.”

Tony blows out a breath. “Good. Thanks. That was really the last thing I’d left undone.”

Steve frowns. “That makes it sound like you’re not coming back.”

“You never know what can happen out in the wide universe, Steve,” Tony replies. “We plan on returning, but plans rarely survive first engagement.”

Steve stares down at the case, and then up at Tony. “I was wrong about you, you know.”

Tony shakes his head. “No, you weren’t. I’m the guy who does what has to be done, that’s all.”

“And sometimes that means you’re the guy who lays down on the line,” Steve counters. “You’ve saved the world twice now.”

Tony shrugs, uncomfortable with the praise. “Yeah, well, try to keep the place in one piece while we’re gone, okay?”

“I will,” Steve says. “And I’ll keep your promise.”

He offers a hand for Tony to shake, and Tony allows himself to be pulled in for a hug. “Take care of yourself,” Steve says. “And maybe let Bruce take care of you, too.”

“Thanks, Steve,” Tony replies.

He’s said his goodbyes to pretty much everyone else at this point, and he feels good about how he’s leaving things now that he knows Steve will deliver the new suit to Peter.

Tony makes his way back to the quarters he’s sharing with Bruce, wondering if this is the last time he’ll be here, and he knows the answer to that question is maybe.

The answer is almost always maybe.

Bruce, though—he’s a sure thing.

Tony slips inside their quarters and finds Bruce sitting on the couch, a cup of tea in hand, bare feet propped up on the low table in front of the couch.

“How did things go?” Bruce asks.

Tony sits next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders. “Steve is going to make delivery.”

“We probably could have done that on our way off the planet,” Bruce points out.

Tony shakes his head. “No, that kid wants to hero worship me. Steve is a safer option. Maybe when we come back, I’ll stop in, see how he’s doing.”

“So, we are coming back?” Bruce asks

Tony presses his forehead to Bruce’s temple. “I don’t know. What did you say? Let’s see where the solar winds take us?”

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Bruce replies.

And Tony is just glad that they’ll be together.

 

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