A/N: Please, no flames? I tried? Reviews are love! I had to reformat it, but I've got it, now. This isn't mine.

Warnings: None, really? Made it M to be safe for child abuse, and very, very gentle MxM.

Will become a two-shot.

3 ~NoPitSoDeep

"No. Daddy, no! Daddy, please!"Align Center

"Shut up, Bruce!"

"Daddy stop!"

"I said SHUT UP!"

"NO!" Bruce's eyes flew open, and he sat up in bed. Sweat poured from his forehead, his wet hair falling into his face in soppy ringlets. His chest heaved as he fought to control himself, falling back on the pillow. He breathed deep, shutting his eyes, focusing on anything, everything, except how scared he was.

"Bruce?" He turned his head, green eyes flying open, only to Find Tony's face inches away from his. He focused on Tony's eyes, his beard, hair, everything about him Bruce could take in. Tony reached out, gently taking Bruce's hand in his, and their fingers threaded together, as if it were the most natural instinct either of them possessed. Bruce took one last, shuddering breath, and nodded, closing his eyes. Tony raised his eyebrows delicately.

"You good?" He asked, his voice soft. Bruce nodded.

"Y-yeah. I'm good."

Tony paused for a moment before reaching out, and wrapping his arms around Bruce's neck, pulling the other scientist against his chest. Bruce slid one arm around Tony's waist, and Tony placed a quiet kiss on the top of Bruce's head.

"Tell me." Tony whispered, gently running his fingers through the physicist's hair. Bruce traced the outline of the arc reactor through Tony's t-shirt with his index finger.

"It was my dad." He muttered, looking away from Tony's face. This was ridiculous. He shouldn't be so scared of something so far in his past.

"What about him?" Tony murmured, still playing tenderly with Bruce's curls.

"He um..." Bruce gulped, closing his eyes. "He was a...not-good person. When I was little, he'd beat me and my mother, when he was drunk and..." He trailed off, opening his eyes to stare into space, lost in thought.

"He was drunk a lot?" Tony asked, rubbing Bruce's back with his free hand.

"Y-yeah." Bruce said quietly, curling his fingers into Tony's shirt. "One night, when I was eight or nine, he um..." He went quiet for a moment, thinking about that night.

"Yeah?" Tony kissed Bruce's head again.

"H-he broke a bottle over my mom's head." Bruce shuddered at the memory. The blood on the floor, and his father beating his mother over, and over, until there was nothing left of the bottle, and very little left of her face. "She d-died. I begged him to stop, but...he wouldn't. Chlid protective services didn't really exist back then, but there were police officers who figured they couldn't leave him with me, so I was put in foster homes..." He trailed off again, trying to ward off unpleasant memories, to no avail. He snapped his eyes shut, as the images came flowing back.

He was six. If he had been a bigger, stronger kid, he'd have been able to make it up to the attic, where HE couldn't find him. Buthewasn'tbig, orstrong. Hewassmall. Hecouldrun, butnotveryfast. Notfastenough...

"I'm gonna find you, Bruce!" His father's voice boomed across the house, and Bruce crowded as far into the corner of the closet as he could. "You can't get away from me, son. I'm too smart for you."

Tears poured from Bruce's eyes. No. No, no, no, no, no. This wasn't happening. Not again. Somebody would come, somebody would stop him, somebody HAD to stop him. The footsteps were getting closer, and closer, the voice getting louder, and louder, and then the closet door was flung open, and Bruce was dragged out by his wrist.

"Daddy, PLEASE!"

Lying in bed, hours later, his knees pulled up to his chest, his bruised and broken body screaming it's protest, Bruce cried. Quietly, secretly, so his father wouldn't hear, he sobbed into his pillow, hoping that someday, somehow, he would be stronger than his dad.

"Bruce? Bruce!" Tony called, shaking him gently. "Come on, big guy. Back to real life."

Bruce shook his head, trying to clear it, as Tony asked his final question. "Where's your dad, now?"

"He's...um.." Bruce closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "He's serving life in prison. Gardiner state penitentiary. They ah...he tried a couple years ago to go out on probation, but it...didn't get approved." Tony nodded, and his body stilled for a moment, before he responded.

"You uh...you ever go see him?" Tony asked quietly, closing his eyes. He kept his voice even, maintaining the charade of being calm so that perhaps he could calm Bruce as well, but on the inside...he was on fire.

"No, not really." Bruce muttered, turning his face away. "I was...scared, I guess."

The thought of anyone hurting Bruce...killed him. He could feel his heart thumping in his chest, and when he looked down, he noted that the arc reactor was brightening and dimming in time with his hearbeats. He sat up, slightly, moving to lay Bruce back down on his back.

"Gardener State Penn, you said?" He asked, pressing a light kiss to Bruce's cheek.

"Um...yeah." Bruce replied, raising his eyebrows. "Tony?"

Tony closed his eyes for a moment, and took a deep, steadying breath before replying.

"Bruce, I've got to go somewhere for a little while, now, okay?" He wrapped his arms around Bruce's shoulders, pulling him up for a hug. "I'll be back soon, alright, babe? I just have to...fix something."

Bruce pulled back, his eyes filled with concern.

"Tony, what's going on?"

"Nothing, Bruce, nothing, I just have to..." He looked to one side, and back. "Finish something. I'll be back soon. I promise. Just gimmie, like...twenty minutes."

Bruce wanted to pursue the subject, but thought better of it. He had some idea of what Tony was about to do, and he knew there was no way for him to stop it.

"Okay. Come back soon, alright?"

Tony stood up, and then leaned down, kissing Bruce's lips gently. "Of course, babe." And he swept out of the room, leaving Bruce alone in the dark, with only his thoughts to keep him company.

"JARVIS, is he about to do what I think he's about to do?"

"If your estimations are that Mister Stark will now be proceeding to your father's cell at the Gardiner State Penitentiary, then yes, sir. I believe your suspicions have been confirmed."

Bruce laid back on the pillows, and closed his eyes, shaking his head.

"Alright."

TBC