p • r • e • s • s • u • r • e

a blue coat and a pep talk

"You're no fun." he says, sticking his lip out. Bruce rolls his eyes and unzips the hoodie, helping Tony pull it off and casting it aside. The thumbtacks jut out from his stomach and leak blood. There were five embedded in his flesh, but they were surrounded by at least a dozen tiny stab wounds.

"Did you..."

Tony nods. He's met with an incredulous and heartbroke expression.

"What? I was mad!"

"At whom? What did I ever-I apologised, and I know that-"

"At myself, you idiot," he grins.

Bruce looks down at the mess in front of him and sniffles, gently holding a tack by his thumb and forefinger.

"This is gonna hurt."

"I certainly hope so."

The scientist just shakes his head and rips out one swiftly.

"That wasn't very fun-the least you could do is go slow," Tony whines.

Bruce wipes the blood off of the tack and presses a napkin down onto the wound, eyeing the needle.

"It's...perforated."

Tony looks away guiltily.

"Jesus christ..."

"Not quite, but I'm flattered."

"You diabolical bastard."

"You know you love me."

"Yes, god help me." Bruce tosses the tack into the garbage.

"Here, put pressure on this."

Tony takes the small square of paper towel and presses his finger down.

"Not-not that much pressure."

The scientist does away with the other three tacks, leaving one still in.

"Can I keep it?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

Bruce glares at him and throws the last tack into the trash can, smacking Tony's hand to the side-the hand that was twisting and jabbing the small pin. He quickly gets rid of that one and disinfects all the little puncture wounds, earning a lot of hissing from Tony. He puts Peter's My Little Pony bandaids on all of them and hides the trash can somewhere in the bathroom. The engineer smooths his hand over the little bandaids on his stomach and Bruce comes back from the bathroom, turning out the lights and laying down next to Tony.

"Any more surprises?"

"No...that was it. Sorry."

Bruce scoffs, and pulls Tony close.

After awhile, the scientist asks the question that's been lingering on his mind for ages.

"Don't you ever get sick of it?"

"What?"

"Don't you ever get sick of the pain?"

Tony nearly chokes on the air, and presses his face into Bruce's soft cotton shirt.

"I-I don't know. I think so. But only when it's happening. After...I just want more. But not."

"I thought you said it was punishment?"

"It is. I just...it's not that I enjoy it, I think. It just feels right. Like getting revenge on someone you hate."

"Tony...I think it is getting revenge on someone you hate."

"Huh. Yeah, I guess so."

"Don't you think it's enough?" Bruce's voice is wayyy too sweet, too human. Tony's eyes spark.

"The pain?" His voice cracks. The engineer curses mentally.

"Yeah. You're torturing yourself. Don't you think it's enough? Haven't you paid the price by now?"

Tony chuckles wryly.

"Not really, no. In fact," he says, propping his chin on his hands. "I don't know if I ever will."

The sadness and pity in Bruce's eyes is tangible. Tony hates it.

"I'm sorry Bruce..."

"Don't apologise to me. Apologise to yourself. Because there was never a price to pay in the first place."

He strokes Tony's hair, wiping the silent tears from the engineer's expressionless face.

"Yeah there is."

"Not any more. You need to stop. You're...Tony you're killing yourself."

"...so?" Fresh tears cascade down the broken man's face.

"So you have a child-children. You've got a family. You've got the team. And I hate to break it to you babe, but the world needs you too. You don't get to just leave. The price isn't...this. The price for being alive and safe is doing what you can. And you can't do that if you're dead. Or in a coma. Or whatever the fuck."

Tony sniffles, clinging onto Bruce like a child.

"Bruce?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for...y'know. Not running away from me."

The scientist's face falls.

Right.

His wife and daughter had run, his best friend had run, and his...his son was half a planet away.

Everybody had run.

Tony felt alone.

"I'd never run. I'm always here. No matter what."

The engineer struggles to suppress the urge to sob freely at the tenderness and sincerity of Bruce's voice.

"Yeah," is all he can manage to say. 

A/N 

Hi! Hope you're enjoying the story thus far. I feel like it's sort of getting boring though. There isn't really anywhere for the storyline to go. Anyway...stay safe!