Hulk has no need for pants [Bruce/Tony - Tuesday afternoon]

[playboy_philanthropist]

Tony covered a yawn with the back of his hand as he headed towards Bruce's lab. He'd managed to sleep on the quinjet on the way back after sending Bruce an email that he was heading home, but it had still been a tough few days, although likely more mentally than physically. Not that he couldn't feel the soreness settling in already and knew it would only get worse the next day. Even more reason to relax today with some good experimentation and science. Ok, very loose science at this point, but still science.

Entering Bruce's lab, he grinned widely as he held a bag of food up. "Time for your fashion show, Bruce," he said before laughing as Gmork came galloping up with a series of yips. He knelt down and rolled his eyes when the puppy put his paws on his knee, seemed to give his new short-haired look a critical inspection and dismissive snort, and then made a lunge for the bag of food. Tony lifted his hand high and shook his head. "Oh no, not for you. This is people food." He ruffled the puppy's fur for a few more moments before standing up. "So, you ready? Or do you need to wrap up your work at all?"

Comments

[doctor_banner]

Bruce looked up when Tony came in and grinned at Gmork's excitement. "Guess he missed you," he said with a chuckle. He took the bag from Tony's upraised hand and put it on the desk. "What did you get?" he asked, opening it to peer inside. He wasn't that hungry, but Bruce knew he'd need the energy or he'd feel it later.

He snorted at the fashion show comment and reached for his mug of coffee. "I'm ready as I'll ever be, I guess." Bruce would never enjoy the feeling of transformation, no matter how many times it happened, and even the knowledge that he had control over it like today wasn't much comfort. The aftermath was always the worst part, though. He knew he'd be tired and sore, like he'd been turned inside out and then back again. "Nah, I'm good. The work will keep." He hadn't been doing anything new, just reviewing a couple of things.

[playboy_philanthropist]

"Nice to know I'm not so easily forgotten," Tony joked before rolling his eyes when the puppy flopped onto his foot with a happy sigh. "Again. He didn't learn that from me. He came with liking to sleep in odd locations." He grinned. "Shashlyk all the way from the source. It should still be a decent temperature. If not, we can stick it over a bunsen burner."

He stretched his arms up over his head. "Natasha sends kisses by the way. And can I just applaud you on your obvious talent at love bites? If the whole scientist thing doesn't work out, you can go into business with those." He tried to shake Gmork off his foot, causing the puppy to merely whimper and roll farther onto his back on top of his shoe. "So, food now or after? It's pretty hearty stuff."

[doctor_banner]

"Real shashlyk?" Bruce peeked inside the bag and groaned at the aroma wafting from the foil-wrapped package inside. "Yeah, it's still hot. What did you do, bring the entire street cart with you and have the vendor cook it fresh?" Bruce smirked at Tony and then poured him a cup of coffee and handed it over. "You look like you could use this. How did the mission go?"

Bruce did not blush when Tony mentioned Natasha sending kisses. He did color a little, though, when he mentioned the love bites, but he just gave Tony a wry grin. "I don't think the business would do well. Not everyone would be as inspiring a subject, after all." He suppressed the urge to smirk, or tried to.

He poked the bag and then cleared a spot at the desk. "Some now, some later. Pull up a chair."

[playboy_philanthropist]

Tony scooped up Gmork under one arm before taking the coffee cup from Bruce with a grateful smile. "I knew I kept your around for a reason," he teased. Settling into a chair, he murmured happily as he sipped at his coffee and scratched Gmork behind the ears as the puppy sprawled across his lap.

"Mmmm... Coulson was against buying the whole cart, even when I assured the owner that he'd make far more just selling to our household than he ever would where he was set up. But yes, it's real. Straight from a grill in Russia to you. That's how much I like you." He took another sip of his coffee before he puffed out a sigh. "I made it back in one piece and with no near death experiences, so it went exceptionally well." He shook his head. "But fuck, they're stepping up their game. Part of me is wondering if they're just looking into uranium because of the destructive properties or if they actually know that I can't just fly in and blow shit up if they have that lying around... Probably a bit of both considering the sort of things they were stockpiling. I am going to need serious pain killers tomorrow though. The bastards are starting to catch up on their anti-Iron Man methods. Not that they're anywhere near being good at it, but they're obviously starting to think about it."

He made a bit of a face as he reached forward to steal a bit of fat from the unwrapped shashlyk and gave it to a very happy Gmork. "She is very inspiring. You get high fives for life in regards to that."

[doctor_banner]

Bruce savored the slightly charred, seasoned meat. It had been ages since he'd had good shashlyk, and he appreciated the thought as much as the food itself. He shrugged and licked his fingers when he realized there wasn't a napkin handy. Good street food was usually messy to a degree, and this was delicious. "You like me," he said with a smirk. "I'm touched, Tony. Really," he added, his tone more serious.

He listened as Tony described the mission, his face grim when he got to the part about the uranium. "I don't know whether I hope they know enough to handle it properly or not," he said at last. "Either way, it's dangerous. So what's next there? You going back, or another team going in to dismantle the operation?"

"I do sort of wonder how I got this lucky," Bruce admitted. "I mean, I guess I did all right for myself before, at least until my life went to hell. But... it's not the same with her."

[playboy_philanthropist]

"Of course I like you," Tony said, a smirk settling on his lips to lighten the moment again. "Who else would I talk science too? And co-parent a science-pup with? And don't you go telling Steve I used the word 'co-parent' where the pup is concerned. He'll get that weird proud look on his face about me proving myself to be a proper human being." He wrinkled his nose at the thought and shuddered dramatically.

Sighing, he leaned back in his chair and tilted his head back to look at the ceiling. "This batch at least was properly handled. All nice and packaged. I've taken care of the uranium they had there at least. Took it to a plant myself and made sure they dealt with it right there and then. Which might make some people peeved at me for not bringing home a nice present for the government, but they can go fuck themselves on the Stark Industry missiles I've been gracious enough to let them keep." He ran a hand over his eyes. "Blew up their stockpile of weapons too once the uranium was out of there. Natasha is searching down more information though. Where it goes from there though..." He shrugged before waving a hand dismissively.

"Don't question it. Questioning it is a very dangerous road to go down. Especially if the 'how I got this lucky' turns into 'why me' territory." He raised an eyebrow. "How's it not the same? Other than all the superhumany, Avengery stuff that is."

[doctor_banner]

"Co-parenting," Bruce laughed. "Is that what we're doing?" He smirked at Tony, shaking his head. "You're already a pretty decent human being, Tony," he admitted. "I don't think you can prevent that look of Steve's, but all right. My lips are sealed."

He drank some coffee and reached for another skewer. "That's something, I guess. Not peeved at you, for the record." The less uranium in trigger-happy hands, the better, as far as Bruce was concerned. He nodded when Tony explained about Natasha's continued absence.

"I'm trying not to. I think we both are," he clarified. Bruce scratched the side of his neck and glanced up at Tony. "I'm still working on figuring that out, but... I think." He hesitated. "She's seen me at my worst. And she's still around."

[playboy_philanthropist]

"I don't even know, but Steve is known as 'daddy' to his puppies. I had to refer to him as that to his when I was watching over them because they might not know who 'Steve' was," Tony said with a laugh and shake of his head. Stealing a piece of meat, he held it out to Gmork who scarfed it down enthusiastically. "In case you haven't figured this out yet, I'm Tony and this is Bruce." He pointed at each of them before gesturing up at the ceiling. "And the disembodied voice that sometimes has a body and is trying to translate your barks is JARVIS."

He took a sip of his coffee before letting out a dramatic sigh. "And here I stashed some away for your Christmas present. Man, I'm going to have to actually go out and do real shopping."

A soft chuckle rumbled in his throat as he focused down on the puppy in his lap, a fond smile quirking his lips. "Seeing you at your worst and still sticking around is a check-mark in the good category. Or well, that's my opinion."

[doctor_banner]

Bruce blinked at that information. "Daddy? That's cute," he said at last, a broad grin on his face. He looked over at Gmork and those bright, intelligent eyes. "I don't know, though. Somehow I suspect they probably already know his name They're smart, these pups." He chuckled when Gmork yipped in reply to Tony.

"Let me guess. 11:55 p.m. on Christmas Eve," Bruce retorted with a smirk. "That seems about your shopping style."

His smirk softened into a genuine smile as he nodded in agreement, and Bruce put the coffee mug down and leaned an elbow on the desk. "So, we're here to test. Where do you want to start?"

[playboy_philanthropist]

"Way too smart considering how easily they get around this place." Tony smirked as he ruffled the pup's fur and plopped him down onto the floor. Standing up, he stretched, making a face at how his muscles were already tensing up unhappily in some places.

"If I go shopping myself," he said with a laugh. "Which if I waited that long to mention something, I would be. Pepper isn't too happy about those requests." Not that he usually had many people to buy for. Real people to buy for as opposed to employees and business acquaintances. He wondered what the protocol for people who were living in your house who were also your teammates and some your friends actually was...

He pushed the thought from his head as he grinned widely. "Well first we get you out of your clothes and into the nanopants. And if all goes right there..." He made a show of making a growly face and flexing his arms. "The big guy can come out to play. Ready to head down to the Iron Man crash test dummy proof room?"

[doctor_banner]

"Lead the way," Bruce told him with a faint grin. He couldn't help feeling a little apprehensive as he followed Tony, aware that this was dangerous, however tightly the transformation was controlled. Another part of him appreciated that Tony was willing, even eager, to work on this with him.

"So... Dummy proof. Really?" He glanced over as they approached the elevator.

[playboy_philanthropist]

"Yup. Well, dummy meaning me proof as opposed to DUM-E robot proof," Tony said with a bounce in his step. "I have not destroyed it yet and considering some of the crashes I did in there, that is impressive. And, no offense to the big guy and all because his smashing is top-notch, but there is no way you have me beat on destruction of property. I am stellar at destruction of property, especially when it's my own property."

He reached out and squeezed Bruce's shoulder with a reassuring smile as they got into the elevator and rode down to the 'hulk-proof' room. "It'll all work out fine." He smirked. "Well, all except for your walk. I'm sure your model walk is atrocious. The Top Model commentary will be horrendous. I mean, Tyra... she'll be crying about how bad it is."