Rule of Thirds
"Wow, Dr. Banner," Skye said with a wide smile when Bruce came out into the great room at the front of the house. He was a little startled as he'd been lost in thoughts about how weird it was to be dressed to the nines in a suit and tie that Tony had arranged for him for the evening, as well as still a little lost in the magnitude of the Stark mansion. "You look amazing," she said approvingly as he walked over to where she and Wanda were sat. "Dad isn't going to be able to take his eyes off of you," she then said with a small smirk.
"Uh…" He cleared his throat and tried to show his appreciation for her compliments. "Thank you, Skye. I feel a little overdressed to be honest."
"You won't when you get there," Wanda replied. "Dad takes us to the Christmas one and it's always very fancy. Dinner, nice clothes, music, dancing, that sort of thing."
"It sounds nice in theory," Bruce said as he considered it. It sounded elegant and… nowhere that he belonged. He sighed. "If I wasn't typically awkward in these kinds of situations."
"Hey, don't sweat it, Dr. B," Skye urged. "Dad won't let you flounder, promise. He can be out of touch sometimes, but he gets this part. And once he starts mingling and working a crowd, you'll just get drawn in with him. At least…" She paused. "At least that's what mom used to say. And besides you'll have Pepper there to help if it gets to be too much. She's great."
"Is it weird?" Wanda asked suddenly before Bruce could reply to anything Skye had said.
"All of this?" He asked, taking a guess at her specific question.
"I guess so," Wanda answered. "Or… Is it weird hearing us talk about our mom or knowing dad had somebody else for so long?"
Bruce smiled sadly in understanding and he moved closer. "Eight years isn't nearly long enough when you love somebody like your dad loved your mom." He shook his head. He had heard Tony talk enough about Maya by this point to realize how much he had loved her. "It's… I'm a little sad for him and for you that you had to lose her. So in that sense it's a little weird. Wanting to be with your dad, but at the same time knowing what you had to lose in order for that to be possible for me. It's weird in the way that it makes me feel a little selfish if I'm happy to be with him. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah," Skye said and Wanda nodded. "But you're not like jealous or afraid he's only into you because maybe you remind him of her or anything like that?"
Bruce didn't answer right away. Instead he checked his own feelings just to be sure where he stood. He wanted to be honest with Tony's kids. It was the only way it could ever possibly work long term, if that came to pass, since they'd had another parent in their life.
"No, I don't think I'm jealous. I wouldn't want any of you to resent me or think I'm jealous of your mom. Maybe there are thoughts every now and then that I wish I'd known your dad sooner or been able to share a life with him from the get go, but then none of you would be here and it's very likely none of my kids would be here. And that's not a life I want to imagine. That doesn't seem right." He paused briefly, pursing his lips slightly. "As for if I'm like your mom, well, people have types. I'm okay with that. And I trust your dad to realize even if there are similarities that he's drawn to inherently, I'm a unique person and there will be very decided differences. It's just a matter of if he still likes me after he discovers some of those differences."
To his surprise, Wanda stood then and came over to him. "Can I give you a hug?" She asked, surprising him further.
He recovered with a genuine smile. "Of course."
She wrapped her thin arms around him and he gently returned the embrace. "I hope it works out with you and my dad. Even if does mean seven other kids hanging around," Wanda offered.
"Thank you, Wanda," Bruce said genuinely. "That really does mean a lot."
"I agree, by the way," Skye chimed in as he and Wanda broke the hug. "I think you're good for my dad. I hope he's good for you too."
"I assure you I don't usually take this long to get ready," Tony quipped from behind him.
Bruce turned with a smile and a quip of his own on the tip of his tongue only for his voice to catch in his throat. Tony looked every inch the billionaire praised for his good looks and media charm in his own suit and tie. Bruce stood frozen like he was in a cliché romantic film. His eyes were locked on Tony and he couldn't look away. He felt like he had made it back to the palace and found prince charming again. Or maybe he had found Mr. Right. His metaphors were jumbling together like the feelings in his stomach. Yet for all his own sudden feelings and attraction, Tony was looking at Bruce like he was the most handsome man in the room.
"You look…" Tony started, looking stunned.
"Yeah, you do," Bruce finished, feeling a little breathless.
"I want pictures," Skye said enthusiastically, breaking them both from their trance. Bruce couldn't begrudge her for it because it was probably for the best.
Tony crossed the space and came to stand beside him so Skye could take the pictures she wanted with her phone.
"If you look this good in a suit, I can only imagine what you look like in a tux," Tony said to him in a low voice. It was perhaps the strangest and yet most endearing and genuine sounding compliments Bruce had ever received.
After the pictures and Tony giving a last minute speech to the kids about behaving while he was gone, Sam and Clint being in charge, and making sure not to stay up too late because JARVIS was watching and he'd check in, they left in a sleek closed-top sports car that Bruce really couldn't identify but he was at least glad that it wasn't a limousine and that Tony had opted for no driver. It made him more relaxed as they made the drive to Stark Tower, where the event was being held in their grand event room instead of renting out a space elsewhere Tony explained on the way.
He was immediately grateful he'd had the drive there to breathe freely and just focus on Tony's presence, and he had a feeling that's why Tony didn't really prompt him for conversation on the way, when Tony pulled up in the line of cars in front of the tower – which was absolutely intimidating up close – and he saw the crowds and flashing cameras just outside.
"Brace yourself, Doctor," Tony said. He then leaned over and gave him a reassuring kiss right before he pulled the car up to the valet spot. Tony put it in park and quickly exited the car.
Bruce reminded himself not to open the door since this was his first time as Tony's date and it was more acceptable for Tony to do so. He suddenly understood the convenience of riding in the backseat of a chauffeured vehicle to this kind of event. Then it wouldn't be an issue of etiquette.
The door opened and the flashes of cameras that had been dimmed by the tinted windows were suddenly blinding and as he took Tony's arm he immediately heard the various, broken shouts all around of Tony's fans and of reporters. He wondered how Tony could understand them let alone answer.
"Mr. Stark, this is your first guest to one of these events since your wife's passing. Is that significant?"
Bruce managed to catch that one all the way and so did Tony as he fired off, "Seems that way."
Then, "Mr. Stark, who is your guest?"
"My date," he knew Tony was clarifying the nature of their relationship right off the bat, "is the brilliant Dr. Banner."
Tony stopped them then gently and turned them for pictures. Tony flashed a brilliant, media smile and Bruce tried his best to at least look like he wasn't a middle class man crashing a white collar party. More questions and statements were shouted in their direction, but Tony ignored them before steering them into the building. Inside, Tony steered them away from the line to the elevator, past a rope and toward another elevator that Bruce guessed was his private one that accessed every floor.
"Doing good so far?" Tony asked when they were alone in the elevator.
"That would take some getting used to," Bruce answered honestly.
"Yeah, but eventually you just ignore ninety percent of it and if you catch a question worth answering, you answer it. And you figure out the right timing for stopping for the press photos and then moving along. It's kind of like a really annoying equation where you just have to balance the variables," he explained and Bruce nodded, not sure but trusting his expertise. "Also, how are your eyes?" Tony looked at him in concern.
Bruce squeezed them shut and then blinked a few times. "Getting there," he said with a small chuckle.
"Yeah, usually I do the whole asshole with shades at night thing, but I figured with this being our first time out together at one of these things, I'd forego that. Maya used to complain women don't have the luxury of wearing sunglasses and Pepper calls me weak," he continued to gabble on the ride up. "Speaking of Pepper, I'll make sure to introduce you to her and Happy first before we do any other mingling. That way you know who your other allies are."
No sooner had he finished that statement, the door opened and they moved down the hall to the entrance of the gala. Bruce took a deep breath as he linked an arm with Tony's again. Bruce wasn't sure what he was expecting on the other side, but none of it fit his imagination. It was like the conference dinners and the few university galas and alumni events he'd been to only on a much more extravagant scale. It was like swimming in a sea of modern aristocracy. The liberal in him was screaming a little like a monster inside a cage, but he understood Tony's political leanings and tried to remember that he was trying to change things from the inside out with the lifestyle he was born into as best as he knew how. That he was trying was enough in Bruce's opinion.
"Hello, Tony!" Bruce's thoughts were chased away by a vibrant female voice and he looked to see an equally vibrant looking strawberry blonde in an elegant dress coming toward them. She immediately kissed Tony on the cheek when she arrived. "About time you showed up to your own party," she admonished and then turned toward him. "You must be Dr. Banner. Pepper Potts. I'm happy to finally meet you," she said and without batting an eye leaned in and kissed him on the cheek as well. "I'm looking forward to getting to know you," she said with a warm smile. "It's about time Tony found somebody and if the way he's been acting lately is any indication, you must be somebody pretty special. I hear you have seven kids," she said in a joking tone.
"Yeah, I'm sure that's not a detail you would forget," Bruce answered with a small laugh, feeling a little easier at having another ally as Tony had called her. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Ms. Potts."
"None of that," she admonished. "It's Pepper. And no, a man who's adopted five kids and lived to tell the tale is not a detail I could forget." She said it with a sparkle in her eyes that made Bruce wonder. "This is my husband," she gestured to a larger-set man just behind her, "Happy Hogan."
"Happy to meet you, Dr. Banner," the man said with a slightly impish smile as he extended his hand.
"Clever," Bruce retorted and the man seemed impressed and amused that he caught on to his word play, but Bruce kept his thoughts to himself. The guy seemed harmless and nice enough so that was what mattered. "And for the record, I'm not Dr. Banner. I'm Bruce."
"That's the spirit," Tony said encouragingly. "You guys are going to love him, trust me. And I'm counting on the both of you to stay on guard in case things get a little dicey. You just know every pap and stool-pigeon and busybody in the place is going to eye him like he's the catch of the day."
"Oh god," Bruce said dryly. "That's a horrible thought."
Tony snorted and then scoffed all in one quick, slurred together noise. "I know. You're more like the catch of the century."
"Aww," Pepper said with a wide smile. She then jerked her head backwards a little as she said, "Okay, lovebirds. Time to make the rounds. Good luck, Bruce."
Bruce followed Tony around the room, letting him start every conversation with his thanks for the charitable donations and then only answering as conversationally as possible when asked inevitable questions like – "Where did you meet?" "What's it like dating Tony Stark?" "Oh, you're a scientist? What is your field?" and more of the same ilk. It certainly felt intrusive and if he hadn't already been fairly certain that some were suspicious of his intentions dating Tony then overhearing a slightly older man, a trustee apparently, try to warn Tony away from him would have solidified that understanding.
While Bruce stood a mere few feet away answering a question Pepper had asked him the trustee insisted that Bruce was clearly only using Tony for his own scientific gain. It was exactly the risk Bruce knew coming into it, that he would be considered more or less a gold-digging – or research funds digging – nobody who didn't belong with a man like Tony Stark. Hearing it out loud, however, was the kind of thing that made his more dangerous temper flare because it wasn't any of their business and they didn't know how he felt or what he wanted.
However, it also proved that Tony wasn't lying when he had said he had a temper too because Bruce saw the way his smile turned sharp as daggers. Tony excused himself quickly and then came back over to Bruce.
"Okay, I'm done mingling," the billionaire said through gritted teeth. "Fuck them. Clearly I didn't think through the amount of stupidity that this could cause. Pep, we're going to have to make sure our lawyers keep a special eye out for any libel regarding Bruce's intentions with me as it pertains to his career, especially once it comes out that he's a new employee of Stark Industries."
"Absolutely," Pepper said and gave them both a sympathetic look. "I'll have them start ushering everybody to the dinner now," she then said and left to do so.
Tony's anger then was smothered with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Bruce. This is exactly what I was trying to warn you about. This side of the coin… It's not pretty. I don't want this to hurt your career or your reputation. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable or like others are talking behind your back at the water cooler. I would hope my other employees would know you're there because you deserve it, but I can't guarantee it."
Bruce saw the genuineness in his expression and heard it in his tone. He considered all of the implications for a moment and then took the initiative of linking one hand with Tony's and squeezing it gently.
"It's like you said, fuck them," he said, keeping his already low voice even lower for hopefully just Tony to hear. Tony met his gaze hopefully. "It's not ideal. But as long as I know you're not giving me special treatment I didn't earn or putting me in a position that I don't qualify for, then I'll be fine. I intend to prove I belong there as much as anyone else so hopefully after a while my work will speak for itself."
"It will," Tony said with a tone that seemed to prove he believed it. Bruce had been skeptical at first that Tony, of all people, truly had full faith in his genius, but Tony was steadily chipping away at that skepticism.
The dinner was a relatively simple affair by contrast to the entrance and mingling. Tony's table was exclusive to only those people he trusted, like Pepper and Happy and Mr. and Mrs. Cho who Bruce was vaguely familiar with, as well as the biggest donator at the gala – like some 'look at me I donated the most money and sitting at Stark's table proves it' badge that Bruce didn't quite understand; thus, the conversation was mostly easy and there was only minimal prodding for information on him and Tony's unexpected romance that Tony diverted toward matters of industry and technology and the efforts of his favorite charities represented at the gala whenever it became unnecessarily intrusive.
Tony ended all discussion of their relationship entirely when the elderly wife of the couple that donated the most seemed very shocked that Tony was with a man. She hadn't known he was bisexual. She seemed keen to know if Bruce was interested in both men and women as well and his negative response led to her gaping at them. She ignorantly questioned them on how they could possibly ever be compatible if Tony might one day up and decide he'd rather be with a woman again.
The way Tony ended said discussion was by, perhaps a little smugly as if to prove a point, standing up and asking Bruce to join him for a dance now that the floor had opened up. Bruce wasn't going to complain about Tony's smugness given the situation and he had to admit that dancing seemed like the lesser of two evils in that moment. So he gave into the request with an easy smile.
"I have to warn you," he said as they moved to the dance floor, "you might wish you'd stayed at the table. I haven't really danced in… Actually, I don't really remember. Maybe at my friend Betty's wedding."
"Bruce, I'd rather endure you stepping on me feet than choking on the absolute ignorance at the table," Tony said breezily as he pulled him close. "You can lead next time," he then said playfully as he positioned their hands appropriately. "Not that I'd call what this is going to be leading. More like just swaying to music. I just meant who puts their hands where this time."
"Does it really matter?" Bruce asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"I've never thought so," Tony answered with a shrug. "It's just… Again, this is undoubtedly the most serious I've ever gotten with a man and it's after years of being with a woman. So I really don't want to just assert the conventions I had with Maya, you know? It's important to know what you prefer too. And maybe that conversation has me a little unnerved," he added with a spiteful glance back at the table. "I don't want you to think—"
"You're fine," Bruce assured him. "I'm versatile," he then added with a small quirk of his lips that Tony understood and then matched. "But really, don't worry so much. I wouldn't be dancing with you still or agreeing to any of this at all really," he gestured around with a slight movement of his head, "if something trivial like this was a deal breaker."
For not the first time Bruce wondered at being the one to reassure someone like Tony Stark, but as Bruce studied his expression he not only realized that Tony was genuinely relieved but he began to realize the infamously egotistic and confident Tony Stark was not beyond having insecurities of his own. In a way that was reassuring to someone like Bruce. It reminded him that Tony was human and maybe they weren't so star-crossed or mismatched or anything else that people at the party were probably whispering about them. It reminded him that they weren't so different underneath it all whether they were walking along a canal or in a room full of socialites.
After that, Tony pulled him in a little closer and they swayed in silence for a while. As they swayed Bruce was a little surprised at how easy it all seemed in this position he'd never expected to be in as someone of his caliber and personality-type, dancing with a man like Tony Stark in a room full of people who if he were to look might be staring at them. But he couldn't look. There was only the two of them. He could close his eyes and he would still only see Tony. And the way Tony looked at him so intently, he felt like he was the only one Tony could see.
"Is this really happening?" Bruce asked in a whisper as he leaned forward so they were practically dancing the proverbial cheek-to-cheek.
"Yes. Are you still okay with this happening," Tony asked in return, voice smooth like silk in Bruce's ear, "now that you've seen the price tag?"
Bruce hummed thoughtfully, though at the moment it wasn't much of a thought he had to consider and it was really more of a sigh than a hum.
"Yes," he answered.
"Come with me?" Tony murmured and Bruce couldn't say no.
After he fulfilled his obligation of letting Pepper know he was ducking out so she could wrap up the gala and asking Happy to see to a few things, like seeing to it his car got moved to his parking spot in the tower's garage, Tony eagerly led Bruce back to his private elevator.
"You have a twinkle in your eyes," Bruce said with a small sound of amusement as they rode the elevator up to the top ten floors of the tower. "It's very endearing, but also a little frightening," he added.
Tony smiled broadly. "I guess I should have told you," Tony bantered back. "I'm a vampire. You're my next victim."
"Ah, of course. My foray into what feels like a romance novel would end up being Twilight," Bruce replied snappily. "Just my luck."
"You might change your mind," Tony said vaguely right before the elevator door pinged open with access straight into the first floor of R&D, no security clearance necessary like the main entrance.
He watched as Bruce practically stumbled out of the elevator in a daze. The physicist looked like a man in the state of euphoria. Bruce's eyes were darting here and there and as he moved to the center of the first pristine lab, he spun slowly as if trying to take it in all at once.
"This… This is the most state of the art lab I've ever seen," Bruce said, voice dripping with awe that made Tony giddy to be the one to bring him into this scientific playground first. "I knew it had to be good, but I've never… I've only dreamed of working in a lab like this."
"It's the kind of lab you should have always been working in," Tony said to that.
He somewhat mourned all of the years Bruce's genius had been hidden away or misused by the government. Tony had finally learned of the gamma bomb the military had Bruce working on at one point and that Bruce had nearly tested even after the program was decommissioned because of harassment from General Ross to prove himself; they learned after the bomb would have likely been fatal and General Ross had tried to throw him under the bus. Already broken over what he'd almost done, Bruce had gotten so angry with the general that he had punched him and then told the military tribunal everything with Betty vouching about the harassment he'd been subjected to by her father.
"Well, I'm just grateful for the chance now," Bruce said humbly. "I mean, I can't even begin to imagine all of the uses for some of this equipment. I'm trying, but there's just so much."
Tony chuckled softly. "Try not to break. Stark Industries needs you." I do too, he decided not to add. "Because this is just the first floor of ten, my good doctor."
Bruce turned to look at him in almost disbelief. Tony smiled and pointed upward. Bruce furrowed his brow then, but tentatively moved his head back to look at the ceiling and even from that angle Tony saw the moment his eyes widened and his mouth fell open at the nine other state of the art labs that could be seen through the semi-clear reinforced Plexiglas floors. Bruce's head dropped back down in the same state to look at Tony again. Tony smiled broadly because it did look rather orgasmic and seeing Bruce this excited over science and the wonderland he had created in the name of science was exciting him too in different or maybe not so different ways; he wasn't sure.
Bruce finally closed his mouth and looked around again a few times. He licked his lips slowly and then looked at Tony with slightly narrowed eyes. "You're trying to seduce me, aren't you?" He asked archly.
Tony wasn't one to quibble about his intentions – that certainly hadn't changed since his wild youth – and he couldn't deny that after dancing with Bruce, in addition to their easy and natural relationship and chemistry so far, and now this moment on top of it, he was hoping Bruce was in the same spot he was in wanting to explore what they had further. He'd maybe even had certain things stocked in the suite and his own room back home just in case this came up, being the futurist and all.
"I might be," he admitted. "Is that a problem? Because if it is, I'll back off," he assured him although he also took several steps towards him just in case.
Bruce didn't answer. Instead he closed the small gap left between them and kissed him softly, just enough as if testing to be sure of his answer. "I don't think it's a problem," he said after pulling away and he didn't get too far before Tony kissed him again.
Before long their kisses moved from slow and exploratory to a little more urgent. They weren't sloppy or desperate kisses, yet, but there was enough warning of where this was likely to go and that it probably shouldn't be in the middle of the lab.
"This lab is monitored by security," Tony warned and Bruce, unsurprisingly, pulled back. "I have a penthouse suite upstairs. If you're interested," he said, accentuating it with another long kiss and walking backwards to the elevator.
"I’m interested," Bruce managed to murmur at a slight break in contact as he moved in tandem with him back towards the elevator.
They came up for air when they reached the elevator, Tony pressing the button. It opened instantly and he practically pulled Bruce in and quickly hit the button for his penthouse.
"Good," Tony said, capturing Bruce's lips again as soon as the doors were closed. One hand moved up over Bruce's chest and slowly began to tug at his tie. "Because as irresistible as you look in this suit, I'd really like to see you out of it."
Bruce groaned slightly as he awoke. Two rounds of sex after the drought he'd had wasn't easy on his body, but it had been wonderful and certainly worth the dull ache in his muscles and lower back. He was still a little in blissful awe at how near-perfect his and Tony's bodies fit together. Then again, maybe it shouldn't have surprised him at this point. Sometimes everything about them together seemed like two puzzle pieces fitting together seamlessly.
Also wonderful was the sensation of waking up with skin wrapped up in skin, of body heat and closeness. Bruce relished in just laying tangled with Tony in a lazy waking state until the engineering genius finally started to stir as well.
"Hey," Tony said in a rough whisper, smiling, after blinking his dark eyes open and registering him.
"Hey," Bruce said back and his voice was even rougher.
Tony moved one of his hands to brush aside a strand of hair in disarray on Bruce's forehead. Bruce had figured out pretty quickly over the course of the night that Tony might have a thing for his hair, or maybe hair in general. He hadn't expected that, but he wasn't going to complain about it either.
"Was it good?" Tony asked after a moment. "No regrets?"
Bruce smiled thinly. "Very good," he answered and then minutely shook his head. "No regrets. Maybe too good," he then said with another soft groan as he stretched a little in Tony's arms.
Tony chuckled hoarsely. "Yeah. The shower here is high end. Not nearly as decadent as the one back at home, but should still get the aches out."
"That sounds nice," Bruce drawled lazily.
"Do you go in for showering with someone?" Tony then asked. "If not, you can go first or second. Your choice."
"Showering together would conserve water," Bruce said as innocently as he could manage, but he was sure they both knew that showering together the morning after was inevitable.
"Well, when you put it that way." Tony nodded once, looking as if he was trying to keep himself from laughing. They were quiet again for a few moments, both just waking up a little more. Finally Tony broke it with, "So I was thinking, shower, then you and I can get breakfast before I take you to the airport."
Bruce frowned as he considered it. "My bag is still at your place. It has my clothes. I don't think the suit is any state to go out to breakfast in. In fact, I think you might have ripped a few buttons," he said in amusement.
"The buttons were offensive to me. They deserved their fate," Tony joked. "The closet has some clothes for when I crash here. It's not often and it's been a while so they might be a little moth-y, but I'm sure there's something in there that'll fit you. And I can have one of the drivers bring your bag to the airport. Not a big deal."
"A driver delivering a bag to an airport," Bruce said, considering how ludicrous it sounded to his unaccustomed senses. "That's a new one for me. But shower and breakfast sounds good, so I won't argue," he then added sensibly.
"Don't worry," Tony said, leaning in and giving him a small and lazy kiss. "I overpay all of my employees for putting up with weird stuff like this. They've never complained and most have been on staff for years so I guess it evens out."
Bruce nodded, glad to hear that Tony was at least a generous employer, and then stretched again. He regretfully untangled himself from Tony and sat up. He would need to get home soon since the next day was a school day and he didn't want to leave his kids alone unsupervised too long. Jemma and Peter had gone to stay the night with Leonard and Betty, but he had trusted his older children to manage without him for a day.
Tony sat up as well, swinging his legs over to the side of the bed. He groaned and massaged his lower back just enough to assure Bruce he wasn't the only one a little achy from the night before.
"Your kids are going to know," Bruce said with a small chuckle as he considered the fact that they hadn't gone back to Tony's home.
Tony smirked at him over his shoulder. "That I spent the night with my boyfriend? Uh-huh, well, I think their 'innocent' minds will survive," he said with his own chuckle.
"Boyfriend," Bruce echoed as he followed Tony into the en suite. "Yeah, that does sound nice."
"Whatever you do, don't check any of the articles my PR department will inevitably send you for at least a few days," Tony warned him. "No need to kill the mood with ignorance. And after a few days it's easier to be amused by the amount of desperation of some of these rags. But you will have to look at some of them I'm afraid. Because PR will want to know if there's anything there you're uncomfortable with so they can pass it on to our legal team. That sort of thing." Bruce could only nod and make a mental note of it.
Once they were settled in together under the spraying jets of the shower several moments later, Bruce had to admit there was something said for having money and not being afraid to use it indulgently. "This is nice," he said as the steam and pressure from the shower began to work out his tight muscles.
"The one at home is newer so it has more options. One of which is a waterfall setting," Tony said with enough of a leer that Bruce shivered slightly at the, admittedly intriguing, notion. "So what do you think the next step is?" Tony then asked more seriously as they began to get clean. "For us, I mean."
Bruce didn't answer right away. He had a thought in mind, but he wasn't sure if it was too soon or if, like his being introduced into Tony's more elaborate world, it was better to do so early on.
"I think the kids should meet," he finally replied. "It’s the real wildcard here, but maybe it's better to get it over with so we can address any problems head on. They might even resent us a little if we keep them in the dark about the other side of the equation, you know?"
Tony hummed in agreement, nodding. "Yeah, makes sense. I guess the question is when. I think where probably makes sense at my place since it's bigger and—"
"What better way to placate my kids than by dangling a shiny carrot in front of them?" Bruce interjected with a playfully raised brow.
"No, not exactly," Tony replied. "And if you really think that it would amount to that, even if we don't mean it to, then that's a no go. We'll need to find a happy medium. I don't want your kids thinking that I'm trying to bribe them or get the impression that my kids are spoiled brats who think they're better than them just because they've lived an admittedly privileged life."
Bruce stopped what he was doing to look into Tony's eyes. He saw the very raw conviction there, the kind borne from genuine concern.
"I'll talk to them," Bruce finally settled. "I'll just be honest about the situation and see if they have any reservations. This might be a bigger adjustment for them than me, on top of the sort of trepidation some of them already have about moving in a few months and having to settle in to a new place. It's a lot and I'll need to see how they feel. If they aren't ready, then happy medium sounds like a good back up option. But it is essential they meet, I think."
Bruce paused. "I also think… I know it's short notice, but… Next weekend? I only say that because my interim courses start on the 8th and between that and the last few weeks of school for the kids, I'm going to be pretty busy. Also Jane's birthday is the 9th and she's turning 13 so I promised her the following weekend that we can visit the McCormick Observatory. I had to put in a few calls to past colleagues at UVA several months ago to accommodate us as an education group along with some of her classmates that are going. Definitely can't back out of that."
"No, no, doesn't sound like it," Tony said, smiling at him. "See, you manage to be an incredible father even without billions of dollars. That's talent," Tony complimented him. Although Bruce thought it sounded a little silly, as there were a lot of incredible fathers who weren't rich, he knew it was a genuine compliment from Tony's limited personal point of view. "It's also very attractive," he added.
"Trust me, seeing you with your kids is just as attractive to me," Bruce promised. "So, next weekend?"
"Sounds like a plan," Tony said with a nod. "Because incidentally the 13th is Darcy's birthday so that would have been a no go anyhow. And, like you said, the kids will be busy with end of school. In general, sounds like we'll be a little pressed for dating time in the near future."
Bruce sighed and leaned into Tony as they rinsed off together. "You know, it's going be harder now."
"Now? Now what exactly?" Tony pressed, voice pitched lower in a way that told Bruce he knew exactly what was meant by that. As if to prove his train of thought further, Tony began sucking gently at his shoulder and along toward the juncture of his neck.
"Now that I know how good you are," Bruce indulged him.
"You're good too," Tony murmured against his skin, causing Bruce's body to respond, as he moved gradually lower.
Bruce decided to take a leaf out of Tony's book and he buried his fingers in Tony's hair. So much for conserving water was his last fully coherent thought for a while.