p • r • e • s • s • u • r • e

The Way I See You

Fuck.

Fuckety fuck.

He keeps walking down the stairs and throws his silk blood-soaked dress shirt into the trash can.

I should've bandaged it...

He rifles through his closet in a frenzy, grabbing a Guns 'N Roses tee and slipping it over his wounds.

Tony walks over to his desk.

Please don't follow me Please don't follow me

He barely has time to wake his computer up before he sees Bruce walking down the stairs, first-aid kit in hand.

The billionaire ignores him, and gets to work on the render for his new boots.

He doesn't get far.

A hand on the back of his chair spins him around to face Bruce, who's got the first aid kit open and on the edge of the desk behind him.

"Bruce, I'm busy."

"You changed your shirt?"

"I was...sweaty."

"I didn't know your sweat was red."

"Hippos sweat red. Why can't I?"

"You're not a hippo."

Tony smirks.

"Are you assuming my species ?"

Bruce takes his hand and prompts him to sit on the other side of the desk. He follows reluctantly.

"Tony, please take your shirt off."

"I really don't need you to help me, I'm fine, I sw-"

His words are knocked out of him by a hard slap to the face. He winces and rubs his jaw.

"I told you, if you said you were fine one more time-"

" You'd punch me. That, my dear, was not a punch."

Bruce glares at him.

"Take off the damn shirt or I'm never sleeping with you. And I'm gonna hide all the coffee grounds in the house."

The engineer rolls his eyes.

"I hate you."

He pulls the shirt over his head, and Bruce sucks in a breath.

"Jesus, Tony..."

His skin is a bloody mess. The scientist takes in the sight cautiously.

"How did this get through your suit?"

Hmmm

"I uh...it was new hardware, and I forgot to melt down the jagged bits."

"Ah."

The man pulls out his phone to text Peter.

A few minutes pass before Bruce pauses.

"Tony you lied."

"What?"

"You lied."

"About what?"

"The suit."

"I have no idea what y-"

The scientist hold's out his hand, a shard of glass in his palm.

Tony breaks for a single second, then pulls himself back together hurriedly. It was terrifying to watch.

The scientist's caring hands wipe his whole back with antiseptic, and Tony shudders. Bruce walks around the desk to stand in front of him with gauze bandages in-hand. The engineer hangs his head low; a single, lonely tear slips down his cheek. They watch it with fascination, Tony with disgust as it trails down to his chin, is joined by another one and the two of them collide, plummeting off his fuzzy chin and onto his arc reactor. The scientist kneels down and places his arms on the engineer's knees, saying nothing. The man shudders and cries silently. Bruce is a little unsettled, mostly heartbroken when he sees that Tony's features are hard as stone and cold as ice, but the pain in his eyes...

Tony wraps his arms around Bruce, and their lips meet, mingling with his salty tears.

"I'm so sorry Bruce..." he mumbles.

"It's okay, it'll get better."

Tony stops, and looks him in the eyes.

"But...I don't really want it to..."

Bruce dies on the inside.

"People change their minds, Tony, and I think you'll find we can be very persuasive."

"We?"

The scientist hands him the Polaroid he keeps in his breast pocket of the whole team at the shawarma place, after the wormhole. Tony's face darkens at the memory, but it just might be what he needs to bring him back.

Bruce lifts the man's arms and wraps him in the bandages, and the two settle down on the couch to watch NCIS.

Tony kicks back in his seat, wincing.

The scientist glares at him, and he relents, opting to lay on his side in Bruce's lap, head on his chest. The episode runs its course, and only long after Tony's tears have dried, will the scientist allow his own to cascade down his face, landing in his lover's tousled hair.

I wish you saw yourself the way I see you