Author's Note: Sorry this took so long! I get...distracted. =/

Bruce woke with a groan. He knew exactly where he was and knew exactly why he was there before he even opened his eyes. He felt sleepy enough to continue sleeping for hours. Snuggling deeper into the soft bedding, he tried to fall back to sleep.

His stomach was having none of it.

The smell of coffee and waffles wafted into the room, ruining any chance Bruce had of falling back to sleep. He grumbled and kicked the bedding off, a scowl etched on his face. Well, you can't hide - might as well eat, he thought to himself sullenly.

He stumbled into the kitchen a frumpled mess, curls of hair going every which way, still bleary eyed from sleep. Pepper and Tony both sat at the table eating when he walked in. He rubbed at his eyes with his fists and squinted at them.

"Good morning," Pepper started warmly, but then she saw him and her face took on an amused look. She jumped up from her chair and trotted to him. She gave his arm a squeeze and his back a pat as she asked, "Hungry?"

Bruce sniffled, still drowsy, and nodded his head. He was starving, and remembered he hadn't had dinner the night before after hiking all day through the jungle.

"Ok, come on," she said, taking his wrist and leading him to the table. She then trotted off to the counter with his plate.

Tony grinned at him and whispered, "Did you sleep in your clothes?"

Bruce looked himself over in confusion, "Yeah."

Tony shook his head and laughed, "You look like a child. Or a hobo. Maybe a puppy. ...I'm not sure which. All you need is a teddy bear to carry around."

Bruce blinked at him. "Okay," he answered, still disoriented from sleep and not really following the conversation. He downed the large glass of water in front of him, and then poured himself a cup of coffee, drank deeply and refilled it.

Tony snickered, but Bruce didn't notice.

Pepper set a plate of waffles in front of him and sat back down. "It's nice having you over," she said happily, "did you sleep well?" She refilled his glass from the pitcher of ice water on the table.

"Can you stop fawning over him?" Tony whined as Bruce drank half the glass of water Pepper had just poured for him.

Pepper smacked Tony on the arm lightly and rolled her eyes.

"I slept very well, thank you," Bruce answered politely before digging into the waffles.

Pepper turned to Tony and beamed.

"There's fruit, too," Pepper said, indicating a fruit platter on the table in front of Bruce.

"Mmmf," Bruce answered with a nod over his mouthful of waffles.

After a few forkfuls of waffles and another half cup of coffee, Bruce's head was clear and he realized that both Pepper and Bruce were staring at him.

"What?" he asked, a little put off.

"Pepper's imagining what'd be like if we had children," Tony quipped.

Bruce almost choked on his waffles.

"Tony!" she rolled her eyes.

The fact that she seemed so indignant kept Bruce from being too embarrassed.

Bruce and Tony shared a comical look.

Pepper glared at Tony.

"Really she's just worried I'm being too hard on you."

Bruce looked at Tony with wide eyes, fork frozen in the air.

Tony chuckled.

"Did you…" Bruce started to ask.

Tony's nodding cut off the question.

Bruce blinked at him a few times.

"You told her?" He asked in a quiet, serious tone.

"How would she not of found out?" Tony asked as he grinned.

Bruce stared at him, not moving.

"You found out about me," Tony said. "Now she'll know when not to come in the lab," he said with a shrug. "Isn't that better?"

Bruce gave an ambivalent moan.

"Sometimes she works from home. She'd of found out."

Bruce gave a more agreeable moan. He glared at his plate for a long moment.

"I'm not happy about this - you should tell me these things," he said slowly.

"I just did."

Bruce gave Tony an irritated look, and Pepper jumped in.

"I think you're very brave," she said. "That couldn't of been easy."

Bruce closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Tony sniggered.

Forcing away the acerbic comment that threatened to fall from his lips, Bruce opened his eyes and said "Thank you" as politely as he could.

Pepper, realizing she'd embarrassed him, went back to eating her fruit.

Bruce stared at his plate a moment and then looked at Pepper seriously. "You're going into work today, right?" he asked quietly.

Pepper's eyes went wide. "Yes," she assured him, "I have a busy day at the office, and oohhh…" she looked at her watch, "I need to get going." She leaned over to kiss Tony and then stood up.

Bruce looked at his own watch, "It's not even seven."

Pepper gave him a sympathetic look and patted his shoulder, "It'll be ok." Then she was gone.

Bruce and Tony looked at each other.

"You done eating?"

Bruce pushed his plate away. "Yup." He was still unsettled about Pepper knowing, and he was pretty certain Tony was wanting to start in on the main event of the day. Bruce couldn't eat another bite if he tried.

"You wanna get this over with?"

Bruce knit his brow together and looked at him with huge, sad eyes. Tony felt like he'd kicked a puppy.

"Bruuuce."

"...okay," Bruce answered, his voice sounding unsure.

"Go sit at the top of the stairs and wait for me."

Bruce didn't like that idea. "Do you need help with the dishes?"

Tony gave him a look.

"Okay, geez, forget I asked," Bruce said grumpily.

"Today you're getting punished. You don't get to be nippy with me, understand?"

"Okay," Bruce griped.

Bruce tried to walk away from the table, but Tony was on him quickly. He grabbed Bruce's arm and twisted him around. "Ah!" Bruce hopped to the balls of his feet as pain blossomed across his cheeks.

Tony turned Bruce back around to face him.

Bruce glared at him defiantly.

"This is how it's gonna go: You're gonna go sit on those stairs and think about what you did…" Tony pointed towards the stairs leading to his lab.

"Are you trying to give me a timeout?" Bruce chuckled angrily.

"Not trying," Tony said.

"I'm sorry, this doesn't work for me," Bruce said. "Thank you for breakfast, I'll get out of your hair…" he tried to walk away again, and Tony again grabbed his arm.

Bruce turned around slowly to glare at Tony, and for a moment Tony wondered if he should be worried.

"You know what happens when I get too angry," Bruce said calmly.

Tony nodded. "Sure do."

Bruce looked at Tony's hand on his arm. He looked back at Tony.

Tony stood his ground and kept hold of Bruce's arm.

Bruce sighed.

"Tony, I really don't wanna sit…"

"That's why you're gonna do it."

Bruce realized then that Tony wasn't going to give up on him and that he wasn't getting out of this. He visibly deflated and looked at the ground. "Okay," he said.

"Go on," Tony sent Bruce on his way with another sharp swat.

Bruce hopped onto his toes and quickened his pace. He got to the steps and then looked behind him.

Tony had followed him and now stood with his arms folded as he watched from a distance. He raised his eyebrows at Bruce, a look of irritation on his face.

Bruce lowered himself meekly until he was sitting on the stairs, and turned to face forward. He heard Tony walk away.

Okay, Bruce thought to himself, think about what I did.

Bruce sighed. He didn't want to think about this at all. Thinking about this would lead to an introspection as to why he'd done what he did. That wasn't something he wanted to do. Instead, Bruce spent the next few minutes thinking about everything but what Tony had instructed.

It occurred to him, Tony's gonna ask me what I thought about. ….shit. He wiped a hand over his face and through his hair.

Okay. So. I went to Bolivia. I went a few days before I was supposed to come here. He huffed. This is stupid. I'm a grown man for crying out loud - why'd I do this to myself? He put his face in his hands. Because the alternative is much worse and you know this is working. Tony knows it, too. He let his hands fall away and he stared at the steps in front of him. Out of everything I've tried, this would have to be one of the things that works. He rolled his eyes and sighed. I can't believe I gave him a panic attack. I didn't really think he'd care. I knew he wouldn't like it and'd wonder, but man.

Bruce looked behind him, I wonder how long he's gonna make me sit here. My ass is already going to sleep on this stone, and it's cold. Probably some maniacal plan on his part. …. I need to come up with something. Okay. I hid out in Bolivia. I didn't come here when I said I'd be here. That's what I did. …. He found me awfully fast, I wonder if he put a chip in my shoe. ….maybe there really was a spy on that fishing boat. I should still check my stuff later for chips - this is not helping right now, Banner. Okay, so, I don't want to do this weekly even if it is helping. It hurts and it's embarrassing. That's why I went to Bolivia. ...and because of the possible wealth of medical knowledge, which could be very important to thousands of people, possibly millions. And it could help stop deforestation in the area, Bruce stopped himself there, he's not gonna buy that. I don't know, I'm surprised he flew all the way out there. I wonder if he put his suit on autopilot and went to sleep? Can he do that? ...of course he can, it's Stark we're talkin' about. It's a long trip, that had to of gotten boring. He had to of used autopilot. That's what I'd of done - well, I probably wouldn't of made the trip. God, I'm a jerk. He probably missed a lot of stuff he had to do yesterday by coming to get me, too.

Bruce heard Tony's footsteps coming.

Oh man, that was fast.

"I hope you thought about what you did," Tony said in the irritated voice that Bruce often heard mothers use with small children. "There's gonna be a quiz. Let's go."

Bruce got up and moved to the side of the stair as Tony brushed past him. He lowered his head and followed the other man down the stairs and into the lab.

Tony strode over to the chair without wheels and set it purposely in the middle of the floor. He turned around and leveled Bruce with a disappointed look. "You pissed me off and freaked me the hell out yesterday…"

"I'm sorry."

"Good, but you still deserve something worse than what you've been getting."

Bruce gave him a crestfallen look. "You're gonna use your belt, aren't you?"

"You earned it."

Bruce shifted his weight from foot to foot and began wringing his hands.

"Can I talk you out of that?"

"No."

Bruce made little noises in the back of his throat.

"I know you can take this and I know that you need it. What do you think?"

"Oh gee thanks, that really gives me an out after you put it that way," Bruce griped.

Bruce could see by the look on Tony's face that things were about to get worse.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "You told me not to get nippy and I did, I apologize - I wasn't expecting anything other than what you normally give me."

Tony inclined his head. He could understand that. "I wasn't offering you an out. I just wanna know what you think."

"I hate this whole thing, that's what I think!" Bruce closed his eyes, irritated at himself for his own snark.

"This might be easier with you over my lap."

Tony removed his belt.

Bruce tensed up and took a step back.

"Calm down," Tony said in a reassuring voice.

"Easy for you to say."

"Do you trust me?"

Bruce didn't need to consider the question long. "Yeah."

"Okay good," Tony set the belt on the floor to the right of the chair. "That's gonna be for later. We're gonna do this like normal, but there will be a long phase four, okay?"

Bruce took a steadying breath. "Okay."

"C'mon," Tony sat and patted his knee.

Bruce eyed the belt on the floor. "Does phase four have to be long?"

"It's getting longer every second you spend stalling."

Bruce didn't waste anymore time in going to Tony.

"Undo those, you know the drill," Tony said as he inclined his head at Bruce's pants.

Bruce obeyed with shaky hands and then, without being prompted, lowered himself over Tony's lap. Before he could even finish adjusting himself over Tony's knees his eyes were prickling with unshed tears. Tony had started instantly. He was going full force and it hurt.

"Tell me why we're here, Bruce." Tony demanded.

Bruce bit back a whimper, "I ran."

"Where'd you run?"

"Bolivia, ow."

"Why?"

"To study medical - OW!"

"Bruuuuce."

Bruce squeezed his eyes shut, "To hide. Ah! I didn't wanna do it weekly -nmmmpph- so I ran."

"Is that your full answer?"

"Yes!"

"Wrong answer," Tony said, "phase two."

"Noooo," Bruce whimpered.

"'Fraid so, liar liar." Tony pulled Bruce's pants down, leaving his briefs in place, and went straight back to the fast-paced spanking.

"Owww," Bruce cried out.

"Let me know when you wanna give me a full answer," Tony said in a smart-assed voice. "You know, whenever that is…"

Bruce started to cry in earnest. "I wan - I wanted - stop!"

"If I stop, you'd better answer," Tony warned.

Bruce nodded and so Tony stopped. Bruce wiped at his eyes as he got himself under control. For once in his life, Tony waited patiently.

"I w-wanted to see if you'd look," Bruce said over his tears.

Tony closed his eyes. "Of course I came looking for you." All at once Tony felt his irritation spike and his heart sink.

"I wasn't sure that you would," Bruce said in a wavering, tear-filled voice.

"Were you testing me, Banner?" Tony asked, the playful tone back in his voice.

Bruce gave a wry chuckle, "Yeah, I guess I was." He sounded as though he were shocked at the revelation.

Tony blew out a breath and shook his head. "Well, by the time we're done here you won't be questioning if I care. I do get it, but you went too far."

"I'm sorry, I just…" Bruce stopped, at a loss of words.

"You just thought running and scaring the shit out of me was the best way to test your theory. No, I get it. Sound experiment, doc. Well thought out. Much better than talking. You know what I think is better than talking?"

Bruce looked back in trepidation, "Tony please - ow!" He broke down in tears as Tony again lit into him. The sound of smacking filled the room. "Let's talk! Please, let's talk instead! Oooowwww!" He hated this. He especially hated the fact that he'd pushed Tony far enough to scold him like this.

Tony kept right on spanking as he said, "Oh, now you wanna talk. Okay. Hey Bruce, did you stop to consider how I'd feel if you disappeared? Especially after telling me you were having problems?"

"Ow! Kinda," Bruce yipped out in between swats, his body involuntarily jerking and twisting from the pain.

"Kinda? Kinda?!" Tony ground out. "Phase three, jackass." Tony grabbed the elastic of Bruce's underwear and tugged them down. Bruce didn't even try to stop him; instead, he just laid over Tony's lap and tried to catch his breath while tears streamed down his face.

If Bruce were honest with himself, this was a special moment for him. Tony had made it clear, without a doubt, that they were friends and that he wouldn't allow Bruce to leave. With Tony's friendship and their new arrangement, Bruce wasn't allowed to go off on his own to try and fix himself, and running from his problems wasn't going to be tolerated. Even better, Tony could take care of himself in regards to the other guy and nasty governmental decisions. Bruce wasn't going to ruin Tony's life. It wasn't as dangerous being Tony's friend as it was trying to be with Betty, and this meant that maybe Bruce could actually let someone in, really let someone in. This fact helped the other guy slip into the farthest recesses of his being, even if his ass was already in the worst pain he could remember.

Bruce was shaken out of his thoughts as soon as Tony's hard hand began spanking again. The sound of skin against skin was painfully loud in the room, and Bruce was glad that Pepper had left for work - his cries were getting even louder, and he was pretty sure he could be heard through the entire house.

"Ow! I didn't mean to!" Bruce cried. "It was selfish of me, I'm sorry!"

Tony wanted to stay mad, but he couldn't help the correlation forming in his mind between how Pepper felt about the secret health scare from the shrapnel in his chest and between Bruce running on him. The two events were unalike, but both actions had been dick moves. Both had been selfish as hell. Neither had been done with malice. But, that didn't mean he could let Bruce off the hook, and so he kept right on spanking.

"You came to me to help you with this, and you're gonna let me help you with it," Tony lectured, "and you don't run away. Did you seriously think you'd get away with that?"

Bruce nodded, not trusting his voice as he cried. His hand was beginning to flinch back with every swat, but he was doing his best to keep it in front of him.

"How?" Tony asked, he slowed down so Bruce could answer.

"You don't like rules."

"And?"

"You're busy."

"You thought I wouldn't care," Tony said.

Bruce hesitated a moment and then nodded. He flinched at every swat, which were timed seconds apart.

"Wow, okay. We really need to work on that self image," Tony said. The spanking picked up speed again and he said, "and your opinion of me."

Tony tipped Bruce forward and focused on the sit spots, which had Bruce crying hard in no time.

"Tony please," Bruce cried as he began to kick.

"Keep your feet out of the way," Tony scolded.

Bruce tried as best he could to obey, but it was clear he couldn't help a foot from shooting up every now and then after particularly painful swats.

"I think it's time for phase four," Tony told him soberly.

"Tony," Bruce whimpered.

Tony picked up the belt and Bruce mewled. He'd planned on giving Bruce a good dose of the belt, but clearly it wasn't a good idea at this point. Steeling himself, he brought the belt down twice and then threw it away as Bruce let out a sob.

"You pull a stunt like this again, and you'll get a lot more than that," Tony said, thinking the threat sounded weak. But it was the best he could do.

Bruce, however, shook his head and said through his tears, "I won't, Tony, I promise. I'm sorry."

Tony righted Bruce's clothing and patted his back. Bruce stumbled off of his lap and danced around as he rubbed his ass, hissing and wiping at his face.

It was all Tony could do to stifle his giggles, but he succeeded and, after giving the other man a moment, he pulled Bruce in for a hug. He was surprised when Bruce turned and dove into his shoulder, fiercely returning the hug.

"It's okay," Tony said, taken aback as he rubbed his hand over Bruce's back. "It's over."

Bruce sniffled and let go. He stepped back awkwardly and fidgeted with a loose thread on his shirt tail and looked anywhere but at Tony.

Tony looked his friend over, "You need more sleep."

"Yeah," Bruce answered quietly. "I'll get out of your hair."

"Umm, no. You'll sleep in the guest room - because you're a welcome guest - and then we'll go racing this afternoon," Tony said flippantly. He gave Bruce a look, daring the other man to argue.

Bruce studied Tony for a beat and then nodded. "Okay," he said. "That sounds nice, Tony. Thanks."

Tony gave him a smile and then said, "Well, go on." He inclined his head towards the steps.

Bruce rolled his eyes and chuckled, but complied. Tony watched him walk up the steps and then turned back to his lab, "Jarvis, make sure the track is ready at two."

He intended on spending the morning working, but decided he should bring Bruce an ice pack. It'd been a hard spanking.

Tony knocked on the door as he entered, "Hey, I brought you an…"

Bruce jumped, causing the nutshell with the medicine to fly into the air, and he juggled it before he caught it and hid it behind his back, a guilty expression on his face.

Tony set the ice pack on the nightstand. "What's behind your back?"

"Hmm?" Bruce asked.

Tony crossed the space and physically pulled the nutshell full of medicine from Bruce's hand.

"What is this?" Tony looked at the nutshell full of thick goo. The medicine was so thick that none had spilled.

Bruce sunk in on himself and looked at his feet. "Um.."

"Bruuuce," Tony warned.

He looked up at Tony with his big, sad eyes, "I think it's a salve."

Tony made an exaggerated gesture to force more of an explanation.

"Aniceto, the kallawaya…"

"The kalla-what?"

"The, uh, Bolivian medicine man I was staying with….he made it for me," Bruce explained in a quiet tone and looked back at his shoes.

"For your ass?"

"Mm-hmm." Bruce nodded shyly, still looking at the ground.

"You told him?"

"No. I don't know how he knew." Bruce looked up again, just for a moment.

Tony looked at him in confusion, wheels turning.

"It's pretty interesting..." Bruce started, wanting to change the subject, but Tony gave him a warning look and he fell quiet.

"Well, this is bad, Bruce," Tony scolded him, waving the shell full of gooey medicine under his nose. He picked up a newspaper from the dresser and rolled it up, then lightly smacked Bruce on the head with it. "Bad. We don't put salves on our naughty, well-spanked bottoms without asking. Understand?"

"Yes," Bruce answered irritably and turned a deep shade of red.

Tony glared at him. Bruce chafed under the stern gaze and fidgeted.

"I'm not a dog, Tony," Bruce griped.

Tony snorted in laughter. "You sure?," he asked, and then waved a finger at Bruce's eyes, "I dunno."

Bruce rolled his eyes, "So I'm not in trouble?"

"I'm beginning to think you're always in trouble. Maybe I'm a bad influence." He looked at Bruce and then answered seriously, "No, but ask first next time." He tossed the ice pack at Bruce and said, "Brought this for your ass."

Bruce caught the ice pack and chuckled, "Thanks."

"See? I have you covered. Get some sleep," he said on his way out of the room.

"Can I use the salve?" Bruce called after him.

Tony spun on his heel, "Well, it was made special just for your butt. Go ahead."

And with that, he left the room.

Bruce eased down his clothing and picked up the shell. He spooned the goo out with his hands and rubbed it over his punished cheeks, sighing as it soothed his chafed skin. He kicked out of his pants and pulled his underwear up, and then crawled into bed on his belly and fell asleep, the ice pack all but forgotten.