I think I need another "Let's see here..." thread.

[Zphal]

Tony went about the rest of his day with that kiss in the back of his mind. He found his rocket by the river like his laptop's tracking system indicated-- the parachute had deployed, but perhaps not quite as soon as it should have, considering the structural damage to the casing on the rocket. Inside there was residual energy from the palladium, which eked out in the form of a blue glow, not unlike... he dropped his vision to his chest momentarily and coughed. Gathering everything up, he went back home and went up to his room. It was even more of a mess than usual thanks to his summer projects, and he almost fell on his face tripping over some wire, but he found a place to put things down and get to work on improvements.

Bruce spent the remainder of the day hiding in his room, filling out his resume. He should get a job, somewhere far away. Like… Rwanda.  

[Zphal]

Tony was happily tinkering away to AC/DC when his phone began to ring. Only one person entered his mind: Bruce. Hurriedly, he turned down his music and pulled his phone out, only to blink in confusion at the caller ID on the screen. Oh, it was Pepper. He shrugged and answered it. "Hey Pep, what's up? ...What do you mean, where am I? I'm--" he was interrupted by her, then his eyes got big-- "Our date?? Oh s**t." He looked at the time display on his laptop and cringed. Yeah, he was supposed to have picked her up an hour ago. "I'm sorry, I got really involved in this project I'm doing and-- No, I really was gonna--" but before he could get out his reply, she had hung up. Tony groaned, mashing his palm into his face. He really needed to be more on the ball about these things. He sighed then, wondering when Bruce would call.

Bruce woke up the next morning and smiled, remembering his psudo date with Tony. He then frowned remembering how it ended and proceeded to check his email. In his inbox sat just what he wanted. A job offer… In France. He sighed pulling out his phone and tapping out a messege. Tony, got a job I can’t refuse. Sorry. Give pepper my love.- Bruce. Before he proceeded to turn off his phone and begin packing, taking splice in the knowladge that Tony would never be up this early.  

[Zphal]

Tony reached down to scratch an itch through the dayclothes he hadn't bothered to take off before collapsing into bed the night before. "Good morning, young master Stark, or perhaps I should say afternoon," the AI greeted him, and Tony groaned, sitting up. 12:36 PM. Fantastic. Groggily he reached out for his phone and saw it had a message. Bruce! He frowned somewhat at the wording of said message, but tried to shrug off the feeling of inadequacy it gave him, after all /he/ didn't have a job. Or a doctorate. -Hey, congrats! What at? Doing what?- he texted back, figuring the other teen had probably gotten a job somewhere nearby like his former internship.

Bruce was on his way to the airport when his phone buzzed. He frowned tapping a messege back, -joining a scientific research team exploring nuclear fission. In Paris. He sent airport in sight. He could do this. He could totally do this.  

[Zphal]

For a long time Tony just sat there staring at that word: Paris. Then frantically, his fingers hit the keys. -France?? But I'll never see you again!! Are you sure-- He stopped typing there, staring at the message with watery eyes before deleting it and typing a new one. -Love you. Good luck.- He sent it and threw his phone against the wall, getting up to go to the bathroom to have a cry.



Bruce’s phone went off right before he was about to board the plane.

love.

that wasn’t what he was expecting. ********. Tony wasn’t okay. Or at least there was a chance he wasn’t okay and well, if he really didn’t care about Bruce leaving… He could always catch a different plane right?

he grabbed all his stuff and walked towards the exit frantically. Catching a cab outside the airport amnd finding himself, bags still packed on tony’s front porch.

"Jarvis come on man you gotta let me in." he begged the AI. “I have to see Tony."  

[Zphal]

"Young Master Stark does not wish to talk to anyone at the moment," the home automation system replied. "However, taking into consideration it was you who caused him to become upset, I believe you may be able as well to set him at ease." The front door opened. "Anthony is located in the upstairs bathroom. Should you have any other requests, simply notify me and I shall attend to them as well as I can."

Bruce frowned, ********. He had made Tony upset. He wandered trough the halls, up the stairs to the bathroom. Jiggeling the door knob to no avail. “Tony. Tony come on, open the door. I need to talk to you."  

[Zphal]

He nearly had a heart-attack when the knob jiggled, but when he heard the voice on the other side of the door, he drew in a gasp. "Bruce? Bruce, is that you??" Tony asked, hurriedly wiping away the streams of tears on either cheek as he opened the bathroom door. He got his confirmation when he saw Bruce standing there, and he pulled the other boy into a choking hug. "You... you came to say goodbye, huh?" he assumed, trying to hold his composure but kind of really obviously failing.

Bruce dropped the bag he didn’t realize he was holding to wrap his arms around Tony tightly. Head hurried in his neck. “did you mean it? Do you actually love me, or am I just driving myself crazy, because god I missed you so much, and I came back and… Pepper and I just don’t know what to think anymore."  

[Zphal]

Tony raked his hand through Bruce's curls several times. "Well yeah, of course I meant it. B-but... y-you're going to France, aren't you?" The bag the other boy had just dropped was proof enough of that, wasn't it? His voice tripped, "I m-mean, y-you said..."

Bruce frowned, “don’t listen to me, I am a total idiot. I run away from my problems. I didn’t want to be the person who broke you and pep up. I still don’t want to be that person. But I want to be with you. Tony, honestly." he said sighing nervously, hands still clasped on tonys lower back. “I have no idea what I want. But I don’t want to live in Paris."  

[Zphal]

"Well, you could live with me," Tony said before even thinking about it. "I mean-- when I get my own place that is. Which could be soon. Screw senior year. I'll just pass the GED and apply to the UC and we can blow this popsicle stand, you and me. And I'll get rich and famous playing guitar and you... you can find some lab to put that doctorate of yours to use!" The more he speculated about it, the more he liked the idea.

Bruce allowed himself, just for a minute to get wrapped up in the idea. To think maybe he could live with Tony, then reality hit. “you have a girlfriend." he said frowning and backing away. “you have a girlfriend and I’m in love with you but I’ll always be thinking about having stolen you from her.? He said stomach sinking, heart pounding and the beginnings of tears prickling in his eyes.  

[Zphal]

"Bruuuce!" Tony drew out, grabbing the other boy by the shoulders to shake him a little. "Do you even know how many times me and Pep have gotten together, broken up, gotten back together and broken up again? It's a lot, dude. Don't worry about Pep. She's a big girl. Besides..." Tony rubbed the back of his neck embarrassedly, "Pretty sure I'm already in the doghouse with her cuz of forgetting our date last night..."

Bruce laughed, “you’re an idiot" he said smiling “hey JARVIS, how do you feel about moving?" he asked looking Tony straight in the eye, “cause we’d hate to leave you behind."  

[Zphal]

Tony wet his lips for a split instant before lunging them against Bruce's mouth. Honestly, nothing could be more exciting than the idea of living under the same roof as the boy he'd missed so much. He squeezed him tight as he kissed him.

Holy— damn, he forgot how mins numbingly awesome kissing Tony was. With the tongue, and the teeth, and the stubble, oh lord don’t even get him started on the stubble. Bruce grinned, which probably made it difficult to kiss him but he didn’t care. He was too happy to pretend that he wasn’t. They were moving in together, him and Tony! It was more than he had dared to dream of.  

[Zphal]

As he made out with the other boy, Tony found himself wondering if Bruce still had an aversion to... He chastized himself for thinking about that so soon and pulled back from the kiss with a small pop; he regarded Bruce. "So, we never got to hang out yesterday afternoon. You uh... free?"

Bruce grinned, “well I’m supposed to be in meeting in Paris in three hours, but I don’t think I’m gonna make it." he laughed “looks like I’m all yours."  

[Zphal]

"Awesome." Tony grinned right back, and he grabbed Bruce's hand as he turned them into the hall and down the stairs to the kitchen. Only once they had gotten there did he let go of the other boy's hand to open the pantry and snag out a foil packet of Poptarts. "Haven't had breakfast yet," he explained sheepishly. "You want anything?"

Bruce laughed, “I’m good, I ate this morning." he said cheeks flushed at the image of how adorable sleepy Tony was going to be. Living with someone this attractive was going to be difficult.  

[Zphal]

"Right on," Tony bobbed his head at the reply and ripped open the foil on the Poptarts as he went over to the toaster. He dropped them in, pushed the handle down, and wadded up the wrapper to toss it at the trash can across the room. Unfortunately it unwadded during its trajectory, causing it to fall short. "So close." He snapped his fingers. "C'mere, bookworm," Tony grabbed the other teen by the wrist to pull him against him such that he was trapped between the counter and Bruce; he purred happily before kissing him again.

Okay maybe it wouldn’t be so horrible living with Tony, it had some very positive pros, like making out, that was nice. And pop tarts, and Jarvis… He could deal with inappropriate boners when he couldn’t do anything about them right? Maybe… ********, maybe not.  

[Zphal]

"Oh wow," Tony felt a laugh bubble up in his chest when he felt something hard poke him in the thigh. "Hi there. Am I getting you excited or something, Brucie?" He grinned like a hyena, snatching a Poptart when it sprung from the toaster beside him and taking a huge bite.

Bruce blushed bright red " I- Err… Um, no" he stammered, “I mean, you suck." he countered lamely at Tony’s smirk.  

[Zphal]

Tony's smirk slowly morphed into a leer as he chewed and swallowed. "Well, I /could/ suck..." he hinted, setting his Poptart down and reaching for the front of Bruce's pants.

Bruce flailed unattractivly, tripping over his feet backwards, " or you could not," he said flushing, “you could… Eat your pop tart" he said thrusting the pastry into Tony’s hand. " yup, great idea"