Well.

I just saw the Avengers movie (twice, I might add) and I was struck with the relationship between Tony and Bruce. And then I came on here and found that I was not the only person that felt that way! Yay! And so, of course, I had to add to the growing amount of BruceXTony fluff (is it actually called Brony? Cause that's just hilarious) that is already here. This is sweet and doesn't have too many dark parts to it. The whole thing with Bruce's backstory is taken from the comics, and if that goes against the Hulk movie, I'm sorry. I haven't yet seen the Hulk movie (I know, terrible!) and I hope it doesn't go against anything I said here!

So, without further ado, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Sorry. A bit of further ado. I do not own Avengers.

Tony Stark was drunk.

He wasn't sure quite how drunk he was, but he was pretty sure it was more than just a little bit. Not knowing how much alcohol he had imbibed probably meant he was very drunk. All he knew was that he was drunk and the adorable Dr. Bruce Banner was right in front of him. The very adorable, positively sexy, and very available Bruce Banner.

Wait a second. I do have a girlfriend…don't I? I think I have a girlfriend… Tony's thoughts were muddled - yet more evidence that he was heavily intoxicated - but then the revelation came to him. He had had a girlfriend. The reason he had gotten that drunk in the first place was because she broke up with him.

…Why did she break up with him?

"Hey Bruce?" Tony asked in a strange voice that didn't sound like his own. Bruce looked over at him. He wasn't drunk. Or it didn't seem it. "Why did my girlfriend break up with me again?"

A flush spread across Bruce's cheeks. "Er…she thought you…um…preferred someone else. She said that…uh…that if you weren't going…er…to be faithful, she…um…would have to leave."

"And what did I say?"

"Something I'm not repeating," Bruce replied, his blush deepening.

"Oh. Who did she think I liked?" Bruce's face resembled a tomato after the question. He mumbled something under his breath that Tony didn't catch. "What?"

"Me."

Somehow, in Tony's drunken state, that didn't seem strange at all. "Oh. Okay. Do I like you?"

"I'm not sure…"

"Why did my girlfriend think I liked you?"

"Um…she said that since I moved into Stark Towers after we saved the world, you were…uh…spending more time with me than with her."

"Oh." That did seem like a valid reason. In Tony's drunken state, there was only one natural follow-up question. "Do you like me?" Bruce's blush deepened.

"Tony, I really don't think we should be having this conversation while you're drunk-"

"Do ya? Do ya do ya do ya?" A fond smile spread across Bruce's face as he ducked his head.

"I think you need to go to bed, Tony."

"Is that an offer, Dr. Banner?" Tony asked his friend with a smile unlike his normal one. A new blush eradicated the old one on Bruce's face and was somehow impossibly darker.

"Okay, that's it. No more alcohol for you. You're going to be incredibly hungover in the morning as it is." Bruce picked up the drink and Tony made a half-hearted protest.

"You didn't answer my question. Are we going to my room or yours?" It seemed Bruce didn't even care to blush any more. Or a new blush couldn't be seen over his old one. "I think my room is probably nicer…"

"You're going to your room, and I'm going to mine. You're going to go to sleep in your bed and I'm going to go to sleep in my bed. Then you're going to wake up in the morning with a hangover and you'll feel stupid when you look back at what you said this night."

"I'm sure I'll feel less stupid if I wake up in my bed with you…" Tony said in a voice that was supposed to be seductive, but didn't work, due to his inebriation.

"Tony, quit it."

"You're a very attractive man, Bruce Banner. I can't even count the number of things I want to do to you. Probably because I'm too drunk to count. But anyway, it would be really fun."

"That's the best you can do? Really fun?" Bruce teased. Tony's brow furrowed in concentration.

"How about…awesome? Fabulous? Earth-shattering?"

"How about it's-not-going-to-happen?" Bruce suggested sarcastically. Tony gave him a sad look, using him puppy-dog eyes that Bruce almost gave into. He barely managed to keep his will solid. "Tony, you need to go to bed. You're so drunk you probably don't even know what you're saying."

"I know exactly what I'm saying. I'm asking you to have sex with me, because you're a very hot man and I really want to have sex with someone. And you're saying no, but I don't understand why."

"You're going to be the death of me, Tony," Bruce moaned. A suggestive smile came across his friend's face.

"You think I'd be that good? Why, thank you, Brucey."

Sighing, Bruce took Tony by the arm and dragged him to his bedroom. Tony laughed and tried to drag Bruce in with him, but he refused to go in. With a shrug, Tony went into his room, collapsed on his bed, and passed out instantly.

His last thought was that his ex-girlfriend - What was her name again? Penny? Penelope? Peppie? Something like that… - was probably right.

Bruce Banner kept one eye on the camera in Tony Stark's room as he tinkered with the gauntlet of the Mark VIII version of the Iron Man suit. Mark VII had been brand-new when Tony first wore it, but it had been pretty much destroyed due to its impromptu trip into space. Bruce was helping to make a new suit. He was waiting for his friend to wake up, but he thought it might take a while. True, it was ten o'clock in the morning, but Tony had gotten very drunk the night before and had stayed up until past midnight. Bruce wasn't sure how he had gotten up four and a half hours before with only around five hours of sleep, but he wasn't all that tired. He had gotten used to getting away with only a few hours of sleep when he was in India, and he hadn't quite gotten used to the idea of being able to sleep in as late as he wanted, with no crisis at the moment.

There was movement in his peripheral vision and Bruce turned to see a disheveled-looking Tony Stark sit up in bed. Then he turned over and flopped face-first back into his pillow.

"Lovely morning, isn't it?" Bruce muttered to himself, grinning widely. A few moments later, Tony actually got up and stood next to his bed, looking terrible. His adorable ruffled hair made Bruce's heart speed up a bit. Tony looked down at his clothes in confusion, realizing he was wearing his clothes from the day before. He looked at them, shrugged, and unbuttoned his shirt. Feeling slightly like a Peeping Tom, Bruce waited until the shirt was completely off before turning off the camera. My God, he thought to himself in shock. Tony has amazing abs. The thought of how touching those abs would feel flew into his mind, but Bruce just blushed madly and went back to messing with the gauntlet.

Bruce gave his friend five minutes to get dressed. He thought he was being generous, but when he turned the camera back on, Tony was only wearing pants. Bruce's hand lingered over the video blackout button, but he pulled it back. Why not watch? It wasn't like this was something he hadn't seen before.

The arc reactor nestled in Tony's chest was glowing a light blue. It was seamlessly placed inside his body, without the skin around it looking irritated at all. Bruce wondered offhandedly if it would be hot or cold if he were to rest his head on Tony's bare chest, then shook his head as if to dislodge the thought. Don't start thinking about that, Bruce Banner, he commanded himself sternly. What happened last night should not be taken as encouragement. Tony was ridiculously drunk and he probably won't remember a word of what he said. Don't get your hopes up. Anyway, everyone he ever got close to like that ended up getting hurt. He didn't want that to happen to Tony. He wouldn't be able to bear it if that happened to Tony.

Tony finally chose a shirt - his usual Black Sabbath one, big surprise - and left the room. "Shall I change this to the cameras in the hallway, Dr. Banner?" JARVIS asked politely, though Bruce thought he heard a sarcastic undertone. Even though it was just an A.I., Bruce still blushed at the thought of being discovered by someone.

"No thank you, JARVIS," he replied. He quickly turned off the video, wanting to erase the evidence of his spying as much as he could. A few minutes later, Tony stumbled into the lab.

"How much did I drink last night?" he asked, sinking into a chair and burying his head in his hands. Bruce picked up the glass of water and container of painkillers he had had at the ready all morning and placed them in front of his friend.

"I lost count after the tenth whiskey. I tried to stop you. You were very uncooperative."

"Did I actually say everything I think I remember saying?" Tony asked, swallowing the pills with a gulp of water. Bruce flushed slightly. So he did remember.

"What do you think you said?" Tony looked ashamed.

"Did I flirt with you blatantly and say that I wanted to have sex with you because I wanted to have sex and you're attractive?" Bruce smiled mischievously.

"I believe the exact words were 'I'm asking you to have sex with me, because you're a very hot man and I really want to have sex with someone,'" he replied. Tony buried his head in his hands, blushing madly. Bruce fought the urge to laugh.

"And did I actually call you…""'Brucey'?" Bruce finished. "Yes. I can see you put quite a lot of time into that nickname." Tony groaned."I was never going to say any of that out loud!"

Silence descended on the two as they realized what Tony said. "Did you…" Bruce began, but his voice trailed off in shock."Mr. Stark, sir?" JARVIS asked suddenly, breaking into the tense atmosphere. "Would you like your normal breakfast?" Tony jumped.

"Uh, yeah, JARVIS. Do you want anything, Bruce?"

"I ate already," Bruce replied, looking back down at the gauntlet in his lap. The urge to tinker with it was gone.

"Ate already... What time is it?"

"Twelve past ten, ante meridiem, sir," JARVIS responded. Tony looked shocked.

"Ten-twelve? Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You had a long, drunken night last night and I thought the sleep would do you good." Besides, Bruce added mentally, you looked so cute sleeping that I couldn't bring myself to wake you up.

"Oh. Well, um, thank you." Tony stood and left the lab for the kitchen. And Bruce stayed to try and puzzle out the mystery of Tony Stark and see if what he had said meant he had a chance.

Tony sat in the kitchen, picking awkwardly at his food. Well, that's just perfect, he thought to himself bitterly, stabbing at his scrambled eggs with his fork. He had ruined everything. If he had played it off correctly, he could have made all the things he said sound like drunken ramblings and continued admiring Bruce from afar. But his stupid mouth had to let out the one thing he shouldn't have said. Tony closed his eyes and saw the shocked expression his friend had worn. Why oh why had he said that?

Tony Stark normally wasn't one to stay back when he wanted something. But Bruce was different. He deserved more. Pepper had been right. He did care more about Bruce than he did for her. Even while he was dating Pepper, he flirted with anything female. But if he somehow had the luck to get Bruce, he would never flirt with another living being. Unless he was drunk, in which case he wasn't really in control of his actions. But he would even cut down on the drinking if Bruce wanted him to.

My God, he thought to himself, looking at his mutilated eggs. I am so whipped. He hadn't even thought of given up his drinking for Pepper. Bruce was either a really good influence on him or he was just ridiculously head-over-heels. It was probably the second. Which was very embarrassing and would never be said aloud.

Tony shoved his plate out of the way and began to bang his head against the table repeatedly. "Damn it, damn it, damn it," he muttered, wishing he could go back in time and make himself think before talking.

"That's probably not a good thing to do," said a mild voice. Tony's head shot up to see Bruce standing nonchalantly in the doorway, a slight smile on his face. Bruce came over to him and sat down in the little breakfast nook next to him. Bruce's knee accidentally brushed up against Tony's, and both men blushed and scooted away from each other.

Will this be our lives from now on? Tony thought dismally. Never touching each other because we're too embarrassed? Apparently, he was wrong, as Bruce gently took his face and turned it towards him. Gently, he touched Tony's forehead and sighed as the other man stiffened slightly in pain.

"Look, you've bruised yourself. Tony, if you want to destroy something, go to your training room and wear your suit. Don't try to break the table with your head."

"I was feeling more self-destructive there than destructive in general," Tony stated in a casual tone. He didn't miss Bruce's slight wince.

"Those are the urges you're supposed to repress," he replied in a slightly clipped tone.

"Says the man that put a bullet in his mouth," Tony shot back. Bruce looked down and began to fiddle with his glasses.

"That was an entirely different scenario."

"Why did you do it, Bruce?" Tony asked, his voice pained. This conversation was obviously not going the way Bruce wanted it to.

"I told you before. I got low-"

"And you decided putting a gun in your mouth and pulling the trigger sounded like a good idea. I've heard it before. That's a crap explanation and you know it. You're a brilliant man, Bruce. You should have known there was always another option."

"I really don't want to talk about this-"

"And I'm really not giving you a choice, Bruce," Tony replied, his voice harsher than he wanted it to be. "Tell me what happened."

"Tony…"

"Tell me!" Most people, at this point, would stop yelling for fear of the Hulk coming out, but Tony knew Bruce had a better handle on it than that. He was still surprised at the amount of anger he saw in his friend's brown eyes. And yet, despite the obvious fury, there wasn't a hint of green. Bruce really did have a great handle on his other side.

"I was reminding myself of my father, okay!" Bruce yelled, getting to his feet. He sagged slightly after the outburst and sat back down, looking at his hands. "I reminded myself of my father."

"What did he do to you?" Tony asked, getting angry himself at the thought of anyone doing something to the incredible man before him, much less his own father.

"I was trying to make a cure, and all I could think about was how I had hurt Betty, and it reminded me of what my father did to my mother-" Bruce's voice cut off abruptly with what sounded like a sob, but he quickly turned away to hide it. Tony was shocked. When Bruce had implied his father had done something to him, he was more expecting something like the way his father had pushed him to do his best and never shown any affection towards him. He hadn't thought of anything physical.

"My father…" Bruce's voice was soft and he sounded as if he was trying very hard not to cry. "My father w-was an alcoholic and he beat me and my mother. He k-killed my mother when I was little and when I hurt Betty, I couldn't think of anything but what he did." Tony stood abruptly, ignoring his still-lingering headache from his hangover, and went to leave the kitchen. "Where are you going?" Bruce asked, looking up with red eyes full of unshed tears.

"To kill your father," Tony replied in a harsh tone.

"He's in a mental hospital," Bruce stated softly. "He was drunk and bragging about what he did and…" It wasn't too hard to put the rest of the pieces together. "He was originally only going to be in there for fifteen years, but the doctors thought he should stay in there for his entire life. I didn't argue with their decision. I…I was afraid of what I would do if he got out."

"Whatever you did to him, he would deserve it," Tony replied. Bruce nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly in anger. Tony went back to his seat, but scooted a little closer to Bruce this time. His friend's shoulders were shaking and he put a tentative hand on his back. Suddenly, Bruce's body seized and Tony realized the shaking wasn't from trying to hold back tears.

It was from trying to hold back the Hulk.

"Bruce?" The man turned to look over and Tony barely kept in a swear. His eyes were mostly green. "Bruce, come on. Calm down, buddy." Seeing that the words weren't working, Tony stood. "Alright. Follow me. Try to keep calm for just a few more moments and then you'll be able to let it out." The green in Bruce's eyes began to lessen, but it was still obvious that he was going to transform, and soon. "Alright, Bruce. Come with me." Tony lead his friend to the stairs and ran down them, going to a large steel door. He put a four-number code and the door swung open. Inside was a reinforced room. "This is not a cage, Bruce. This is so you can let off some steam sometimes, okay? But I'm not going to trap you in there."

"Thank you, Tony," Bruce replied, his voice strained. Then he raced into the room and Tony shut the door. Quickly, Tony raced to get the kitchen, where the closest television set was.

"Put up the video surveillance from the Green Room, JARVIS," he snapped. JARVIS dutifully turned on the video feed from the room Bruce now inhabited. He was just ending the transformation. It looked painful, and from the moans Bruce was letting out, it wasn't just looks. Then the Hulk straightened and roared loudly. Tony watched with fascination as the creature looked around the room. It seemed far more intelligent than everyone gave it credit for. "JARVIS, activate the PA system in the Green Room."

"Yes, sir," the A.I. replied. There was a small microphone on the side of the television and a red light showed it was now working.

"Hey, buddy," Tony said in what he hoped was a calming voice. Instantly, the Hulk whirled around, trying to find the source of the noise.

"Tony," it grunted. The man in question did a double-take.

"Yeah, it's me. That room is for you. It's so you can smash whatever you want and you don't need to worry about hurting anyone."

"Not a cage," the Hulk stated in its low, gravely voice.

"No, it's not a cage. It's for you to blow off some steam whenever you want to. Okay, buddy?"

"Hulk likes Tony."

Tony sank into his seat. "Run that one by me again?" he requested weakly.

"Hulk likes Tony," the creature repeated. Tony was shocked. The Hulk couldn't lie; it wasn't smart enough. At least, he didn't think it was. And even if it was possible for it to lie, what motive would it have for saying something like that? No, it had to be true. But the Hulk didn't like anybody. If this rage-filled creature was saying that he liked Tony...what did that mean for the softer physicist within?

Did this mean Bruce liked him too?

Could this mean Tony had a chance?

Bruce woke up groggily in a soft, familiar bed. He let out a low groan and instantly, there was movement in the corner of his eye. He jerked up in shock to see Tony, also apparently just waking up. Bruce tried to remember how he had gotten into the bed, but he couldn't. He knew what that meant. The Hulk had made a guest appearance.

"Did I hurt anyone?" he asked instantly. A still sleep-dazed Tony looked up in confusion.

"Huh?" he asked, looking blearily up at his friend. Then Tony blinked and his eyes cleared. "Oh. You woke up. I was waiting here for you to get up but I guess I ended up falling asleep too."

"Did I hurt anyone?" Bruce demanded again, not understanding why Tony hadn't answered his question. Didn't he understand that was the most important thing there?

"No, you didn't. Remember where I took you right before you turned into a green rage monster?" Bruce closed his eyes to try and remember.

"We were talking about my father," he began cautiously.

"Yup. That's what set you off," Tony replied. "Then what?"

"We were discussing how he was in a mental hospital and you said that anything I did to him would be deserved. And I started thinking about it and I got…angry."

"That's how it went down, yes."

"And I turned into the…'other guy,' right?"

Tony shook his head. Bruce looked at him in shock. "Well, you did," Tony elaborated. "But not right then. Remember what happened, Bruce? You were trying to keep from hulking out…"

"Hulking out?" Bruce asked in a sarcastic tone. Tony shrugged.

"Hey, the phrase works, right? But try to remember. You were about to turn into the Hulk…"

"And you told me to follow you," Bruce finished, the memory suddenly coming to him. "You led me downstairs to a big steel door and you told me to go in. You said…" Bruce tried his hardest to remember. The things that happened right before becoming the Hulk were always the hardest ones to bring to mind.

"I said it wasn't a cage," Tony finished softly. "That's the Green Room. It's not quite finished yet, but it works. It's a place for you to go where you can lose control without having to worry about hurting anyone. It's completely soundproofed and the door requires a code to enter. For now it does, at least. I'm going to change it to a fingerprint scanner, but for now, the code is 4855."

"That spells Hulk on a phone, doesn't it?" Bruce asked with a slight laugh. Tony nodded.

"I was thinking 8669, but the room isn't actually mine…"

"Hey, isn't the code for practically everything else in this house 'Tony'? Why not that door as well?" Bruce joked.

"Well, I figured it's your room and you live in the house too, so I thought, you know, you could have one thing," Tony replied sarcastically. Bruce grinned.

"Only one?" he asked in a falsely hurt tone. Tony laughed.

"Well, maybe a bit more…" Bruce laughed as well.

"So, what else is in the Green Room?"

"Eh, a couple of cameras and a PA system," Tony replied offhandedly. "Nothing fancy."

"Did you have a nice conversation with the Hulk?" Bruce asked sarcastically. Tony shifted slightly. "Oh God, did you?"

"We had a bit of a conversation, yes," Tony replied, not looking up. "He told me something rather interesting."

Bruce felt the color draining from his face. "What would that be?" he asked in a voice that he hoped didn't sound as pathetic as it did in his mind. If the Hulk had said anything about Tony…

"Hulk said he liked me."

Bruce buried his head in his hands, drawing his knees up in the bed. No. Tony knew. Or he at least suspected. Had everything been ruined?

"So I was wondering…if the green rage monster likes me, what does that mean for you?"

"I'll get packing, then," Bruce replied in a desolated tone. Tony looked at him in shock.

"What do you mean?" he asked in a surprised voice, as if that was the furthest thing from his thoughts.

"You want me gone, don't you? I understand. It would be too awkward to stay here after I told you that I…well, now that you know how I feel. I was planning on going back to India anyway. I had unfinished business there. Lots of people to help, and I only managed to help a few of them. Or I could go somewhere else. Or I could stay here and keep working with S.H.I.E.L.D. I don't know. There are-"

Suddenly, Bruce's babble was cut off by warm lips against his. A moment later, the slight pressure was gone and he was staring into Tony Stark's warm brown eyes.

"You don't need to leave, Bruce," Tony replied softly. "In fact, I'd rather prefer that you don't. I don't really care for the whole long-distance-relationship thing."

"You…you mean…" For some reason, Bruce - who was, by all rights, a genius - seemed to have a newfound inability to speak in complete sentences. He had a feeling the reason was right in front of him.

"Bruce, you're not the only one with a major crush," Tony replied with a smile that was close to being a smirk. "I thought you got that from my drunken ramblings last night. And my stupid remark this morning."

"It wasn't stupid," Bruce replied automatically. "It was possibly the best thing I've ever heard in my life."

"Really?" Tony asked in a surprised voice. Bruce nodded. "Well, in that case, I'll have to one-up it. Dr. Bruce Banner, I am completely and undeniably in love with you."

Bruce considered replying in words, but ended up simply pressing his lips against Tony's in response. When the two finally had to break apart for air, Bruce slid his lips next to Tony's ear.

"That means I love you too."

Fluff, check. Sweet, check. Has a drunk Tony, check. Has the Hulk, check. Has BruceXTony romance in it, check.

My work here is done.