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s**t, bruce thought, he really needed to work on this thinking before he spoke thing. he frowned, “its uh, nothing.” he said clearing his throat, “just you know, if i wasnt me, with my er, issues and the whole no dating, and…stuff, I would uh.” he shifted awkwardly moving away from tony expecting him to hit him. “id probably hit on you” he screwed his eyes shut and brought his arms over his rib, “just not the ribs alright?, they’re already broken”

Tony wasn't quite sure why Bruce was going on about his ribs... maybe the meds had worn off? No, they should've just kicked in. "Well you can if you want, I wouldn't stop you," Tony said with a laugh. "I mean, heck, if it weren't for your whole no-dating thing and you /were/ hitting on me, I'd probably ask you out," he said.

Bruce sighed, he was gonna have to tell him sometime, it was only fair, he couldn’t just keep putting him in danger by being in the same room as him and not even let him know that he was putting him in danger. “remember three years ago, when that lab blew up and those two people got killed,” he said trying to keep his voice steady, “they were my mum and dad, we had gone to visit my mum because she was working on something new, something she wanted to show me.” he took a breath, “dad didnt want to go anywhere, but he brought me anyway, and i dropped something, just a beaker of water but he got mad, started telling me i was worthless and hitting me. he did that a lot,” he took a moment to steady himself before continueing, “next thing i knew, i was in a hospital, i didnt remember any of it but they were dead, and i wasnt. Doctor said i was fine after a while and sent me here, few weeks later david punched me, not hard or anything, but i got angry. woke up tied to my bed, didnt remember anything, my uncle said i broke his arm, would have done worse if he didnt pull me off.” he frowned, “shrink says its multiple personality disorder, triggered by anger, or fear. says as long as i keep my emotions in check, i should be normal. but how are you gonna tell a kid he can be normal when its likely he killed his own parents?” he asked voice cracking a bit on the last part, “you can go now if you want, i mean id understand and everything.” he said pushing himself off of the bed to give tony enough room to get up and leave.

Most times Tony had trouble listening-- ask any of his teachers that /tried/ to lecture him-- but he sat transfixed and wordless as Bruce literally /poured/ himself out to him on the very second day of knowing him. /Now/ he realized what Bruce had meant by 'Daddy Issues', /now/ he understood why Bruce was closed off and kept to himself at school. The kid was just about shaking beside him; Tony couldn't blame him, that was some pretty damn traumatic s**t (though he had his own trauma). Without a word he seized the other student by the shoulders and pulled him into a hug, because goddamn, the kid needed one.

Bruce was torn between smiling and frowning, “i, i really appreciate it, you dont even understand how much. but, you should go, I dont want to hurt you… and i dont have any control over it and….” Bruce strayed off, he didn’t know what else to say other than that. He couldn’t say for sure that he wasn’t going to hurt tony. there was always a chance…

"Nuh uh, I'm staying right here," Tony folded his arms resolutely, not budging an inch. "You said you wanted my company today and I'm damn well gonna give it to you. So there," he added on and stuck out his tongue at the kid.

Bruce sighed, he didnt want tony to go. Not at all really, but he also didnt want to hurt him… he frowned, “I dont want you to go, i just… i dont want you to get hurt because i lost control.” he said sadly.

The sentiment made Tony feel a little better. He fidgetted where he sat, in that moment very aware of the reactor lodged within his chest and the way in which he had gotten it. He turned his brown eyes back on Bruce. "I'm not afraid to get hurt," he said solemnly.

Bruce frowned, he was being so selfish. If he was a good person he would make tony walk away and never talk to him again. But part of him just wanted to be normal, to have more than one friend, to have a crush on someone and only have to worry about if they like him back or not, instead of if they would punch him in the face when they found out the truth about him. and here was someone, who knew and wasnt pushing him away, and he couldnt make himself give him up. Bruce wrapped his arms around tony tightly, smiling. “okay.” he said simply

He opened his mouth to continue protesting why Bruce should let him stay when he realized he didn't have to. And that he was being hugged. He curled his arms around the other student and didn't let go, letting the affection /seep/ into him. He never got hugs, not meaningful ones, not like this one, and it made him feel... valued. Special. Maybe even a weency-bit loved.

“cant get your brain to turn off, lay down and then suddenly get an idea?” he asked listing off reasons he cant sleep sometimes, unable to wipe the grin off of his face.

Tony nodded to both of those. "Yeah, or I just forget to sleep. Dunno how many all-nighters I've pulled completely on accident." He laughed, knowing he was intentionally leaving out one reason sleep sometimes wasn't easy-- nightmares. But he didn't want to bring that up, he wanted to focus on the positive again. He reached into the pizza box and took the second to last slice.

“then neither of us would ever sleep.” Bruce said with a laugh, noticing the flaw in his otherwise brilliant plan. “its alright i dont sleep much anyway either.”

Tony grinned at yet another thing they had in common. "You want the last piece?" he asked, pushing the pizza box at Bruce.

Bruce smirked taking a bite of the pizza and then offering some to tony, “im not even hungry why am i eating this pizza?” he asked with a laugh.

"So you can get fat," Tony teased, poking his finger into Bruce's tummy with a smirk. He leaned forward and took a bite out of the slice, never one to pass up food.