The phone rang three times before it was picked up. After the secretary, it took maybe two minutes until Tony was on the line and asked:

"Bruce?"

Bruce let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"Hi Tony."

It seemed innocent enough. Bruce looked down at the card on the desk in front of him. 'Welcome back' it said, and Tony's signature was at the bottom in blue ink. Otherwise, it was completely blank.

"'Hi Tony' he says," Tony echoed sarcastically. "Are you calling to share your adventures in playing a dead man?"

Bruce hesitated, and of course Tony noticed.

"Of course not," he answered his own question.

"I need a favor," Bruce interrupted before Tony could start on a rant.

It seemed to surprise the other man, because the silence on his end lasted a few seconds.

"Oh?"

He hadn't hung up at least. Even after breaking up, they had had a reasonably good relationship.

"It's going to cost you a lot of money, probably. You'll get it back. I just don't have that much cash on hand right now."

Bruce also didn't want to tip Earle off.

"Still got that ugly boat in Monaco?" Tony only asked.

Bruce couldn't help a smile softening his lips.

"Anchored right next to yours," he confirmed.

"I'm listening. What do you need?"

Bruce knew that tone; he called it Tony's business voice. Bruce had admired it forever, as he himself really didn't have a head for the details in business and never would. He was fine with that as long as his company was in good hands.

"I need you to buy stock. Wayne Enterprises is going public in a week."

"I know. I was surprised, to say the least, where Earle took the company."

"Yeah."After a pause, Bruce admitted frankly: "I don't like it."

"I'm not surprised. Weapons don't suit you, Brucie." Hearing his nickname from Tony was nearly a shock. He sounded affectionate, as if they hadn't not seen or heard from each other in years, and there was that dark purr in his voice that Bruce had loved so much; apparently, it still did things to him. "How much do you need me to buy?"

And just as quickly as Tony had become intimate, he returned to business. Bruce swallowed.

"As much as you can, I think. I'm going to buy shares through some other channels as well. I need to be the majority shareholder at the end."

"Are you going behind Earle's back?" Tony seemed a bit surprised, but not shocked.

"Yes, so everything needs to happen under the radar as much as possible."

"It won't be a problem. Earle won't know what hit him."

"Good. Thanks, Tony. I ... I trust you."

"I'm on your side, Bruce, always."

He said it like a matter of fact, like something that had never changed and never would change. Their breakup had been mutual, Bruce had told himself. Bruce had become distant, looking for something, for himself perhaps, and Tony had let him go, maybe too caught up by his role as CEO at SI. But the feelings between them had never entirely gone away. Later, Tony had even tried to act as his mentor in the business world, but Bruce hadn't accepted the offer.

"How are you?" Bruce asked as he should have at the beginning of their call.

"Good, I'm going... good. The sun is shining, and I'm in the workshop in Malibu having fun."

Bruce smiled. "Dummy still there and functional?"

"Of course," Tony laughed. "How are you? I hear things are all fucked up in Gotham. You should come here."

Once again, the offer surprised Bruce. Was Tony looking to reconnect on more than a friendly level?

"I have many bedrooms," Tony added, as if he could read Bruce's mind.

"I can't," Bruce replied quickly before Tony could add anything else. "I'm fine, Tony. I'm staying."

"To do what? Save Gotham?" There was a derogatory tone in his voice, the way many people did when they talked about Gotham.

"Yes."

"Well, if you change your mind– you know where I am."

Yes, Bruce knew. "I have to go. We'll be in touch?"

"Yes. I'll let you know how the takeover is going."

Bruce laughed.

The second time it happened, there was no phone call. There was a press conference, though, and Bruce was watching it live while uncapping his Montblanc fountain pen to write a card. 'Welcome back', he was thinking, should do nicely.

"I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be, what direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well."

The announcement made even Bruce pause. On the screen, Obadiah Stane grasped Tony's shoulders, pulling him away from the microphone, but Tony was already leaving all on his own while Stane took the podium.

"What we should take away from this is that – Tony's back and he's healthier than ever. We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up."

Bruce shook his head to himself. There was no way Stane could save the situation; he couldn't turn back time, and the news had already been unleashed.

Bruce, perhaps, understood Tony best, and it was ironic that, although he was younger, he had found himself sooner than Tony. Perhaps Tony had been put so firmly on his path, not only through money and family but through sheer talent that he had never doubted it or himself until now.

And while Bruce wasn't anything like the business man Tony was, he knew what would be next: SI stock would drop like a stone.

It turned out to be 56.50 points. Everyone was screaming "sell, sell, sell". Bruce bought. Tony would come up with a new direction for his company.

He'd paid him back in cash long ago; Tony wouldn't be counting who had done favors for whom either. Bruce still sold his yacht and bought SI stock that dropped further. He couldn't do anything about the injunction, but if Tony wanted to make sure his company remained his, then Bruce could at least try and help.

Then there was a series of explosions at an SI factory and another press conference.

"The truth is– I am Iron Man."

Bruce froze, laughed, and turned to his butler.

"Alfred, ready my plane."

"To Malibu, Sir?"

"Yes, to Malibu."

Tony's body was hard against his. Harder still were the ridges of something circular pressing into Bruce's chest.

"Iron Man, huh?" Bruce asked when he pulled away from the tight hug.

Tony shrugged, looking away for a moment before meeting Bruce's gaze with a glint Bruce couldn't read yet.

"Maybe I took a page out of your book. Bat." He said it so deliberately, Bruce had to notice.

"My book?" Bruce asked, trying to play it off, but he wasn't successful. Tony had always been different.

Tony narrowed his eyes. "Hello Batman, I'm Iron Man."

Bruce only barely resisted pressing a hand over Tony's mouth, but he still looked around like the paranoid vigilante he was, muscles tensed and ready to run.

"How long?"

"Almost since the beginning."

Bruce tried to stare him down, but it wasn't easy to intimidate Tony Stark.

"Come on, Bruce! The car, the armor, the memory cloth? You think an expert of the defense and weapons industry like me doesn't know what kind of inventions are sitting in Wayne Enterprises' basement? Hell, there are patents on some of those things, that's public knowledge right there, and you should be fucking grateful no one has made the connection yet between the Bat and WE! Let alone you!"

It hadn't taken long for Tony to become angry. Was it concern? Or something else? Maybe just an outlet after months of being under ever increasing pressure.

A bit more calmly, Tony went on: "You have a good cover going on, Bruce, I'll give you that. That stupid playboy facade who doesn't know what his own company is doing let alone anyone else? Well done. Anyone who doesn't know you better, believes it. And there aren't many people who know you well, are there?"

Bruce breathed out. "Tony, I came here for you, you know. Iron Man."

Tony drew a hand through his hair. "I know, I know. I'm worried, that's all."

"I think at this point, we both have reason to worry about each other's activities."

"We have history, Bruce, a similar, well, lifestyle-"

"Is that all it is? History?"

Tony's shoulders slumped a bit, and he dropped down on the couch. When Bruce passed in front of him and leant into his space to sit down next to him, Tony froze and lifted one hand as if to push him away, his palm flat and turned towards Bruce, his breathing hitching and his face turning pale.

Bruce didn't pull away, but he moved more slowly, put more space between them than he had originally been aiming for.

"You okay?" He asked, looking at Tony closely. "Where's Rhodes?"

Tony rubbed a hand over his face.

"Away. Back on base. Not really needed as a liaison anymore if I'm not producing weapons."

"Okay. I have time, you have space. We're going to get you in shape, and you're going to tell me what inventions you've come up with for SI to produce instead of weapons."

Tony gave him a look as if he had never met Bruce before, as if he was a completely different person from before. He probably was, to those who had known him before the League of Shadows and now knew him as everything he was today. The situation was new for both of them, too: Tony, being older, had often acted as Bruce's teacher – including in sex and the ways of superrich playboys. But in this area, superheroes, if one could call them that, Bruce would be Tony's mentor.

After that long, considering look, Tony only asked: "When do we start?"

The story was inspired by starkind's story "Buyout!" on AO3. The title made me immediately think of buying each other's shares, which ended up having nothing to do with the story. Thanks to our conversation, I got inspired to write this pairing again after my last ideas crashed and burned on my hard drive.

Obviously I quoted Iron Man 1 for the press conference. Tony actually says "Stark International" once, but I assume that that was a mistake and it should be Stark Industries.

I'm not an expert in business, IPOs and stocks, or billionaires. What Bruce buying Tony's stock would be useful for, I don't know, at the very least it's a friendly gesture.

Finally, if they're both billionaires, why can't they do everything by themselves? Not even rich people have an unlimited amount of money lying around ready for instant spending. Cash is often bound up in stock, real estate, cars, etc. If they need a lot of money all at once, they'll first need to free up that wealth, which can take time. Bruce alludes to that in the phone call, but his second reason is that he doesn't want Earle to notice.

I hope you enjoyed!