Tony doesn’t know Bruce is gone until after the world is saved. The comms were busted during his fall and he uses whatever powers remain in his suit to bring himself back to the mainland.
Everything he wants is to take the suit off, scrape every trace of metal and just drink himself to oblivion. It has been a really long time since he did that. The last time was when he thought he was dying; waking up in the middle of the night without the familiar glow of the arc reactor, gasping for breath. He clawed through his shirt and managed to tear his skin right when he realized there is no reactor anymore embeds in his chest. Bruce found him one hour later, a half empty bottle in his hand sitting on his floor below the bar. He hasn’t said a thing, just sat with him through the night, all the sound between them is the clanking ice cubes. They didn’t need words between them. And for the first time in his life Tony Stark didn’t need to hide behind big words and witty comments. Whatever it was between them wasn’t formed with syllables, only with actions; a hand squeeze, a soft smile, a comfort touch.
It’s Natasha who tells him about Bruce with soft words that doesn’t suitable for her; Natasha if fierce, sharp. She doesn’t have a soft side; neither of them has except from Bruce.
In the back of his mind he knew it will happen after South Africa, but they didn’t have the time to this at Barton’s farm. He hates to admits it but he was stuck so much inside his own demons he couldn’t be the comforting shoulder Bruce needed.
“You could trace it, if you wanted” Natasha says it off handed. He can, of course he can. The paranoid part of his brain kept running scripts of stolen tech. He won’t let it happen, not again, so yeah, he can trace it while it’s supposed to be untraceable.
“If I wanted” he replays. She doesn’t push it any further. Maybe she sees the look in his eyes and it tells her that he won’t do it. It’s Bruce decision to leave, and if there is one thing Tony knows in this freak show of a world is that Bruce is rational. So he doesn’t think about his missed lab partner, his Science Bro, and focus on what haunts him at night- ensuring the Avengers safety. So he buys, he design, he builds and the Avengers are settling in their new home, away from his tower; out of sight out of mind?
The nightmares doesn’t leave though. Oh god, he wished he wouldn’t see those damn stars, the dead silence of the space making him sick to his stomach. Rogers’s words ringing in his ears and the sight of his fallen friends hunts his eyes every time he closes them.
________
Bruce shows up on a bright Monday, how he found him in his new compartment he doesn’t know, but Bruce has always been bright. He opens up the door with a cup of coffee he just got. “You haven’t slept” Bruce states and Tony can feel like he can breathe again. “You took a long vacation, Big Guy. Got to admit, didn’t think you would come for my old body.”
“Do you ever shut up?” Bruce says and Tony is crushing into his shoulder, warping his hands tight along Bruce’s back.
“How you feeling?” Tony can hear his voice rumbling through his chest.
“Just peachy, you know me.”
“So you wouldn’t mind if I crush here for a while?”
“No more crushing for you, Brucie” he mumbles and can feel Bruce’s face stretch into a smile. “So you know about it” he asks when he finally detaches himself from Tony as they come inside and sits on the couch. “Nat called” Bruce tense for a second. “And yet you didn’t come with the cavalry.”
“Figured you could use a little-“ not space. Not space. “Air from all the noise and you deserve it, a quit place to lose yourself.”
“Taking your own advice, I see?” he asks and looks at the view outside. So yeah, Tony decided he could use some air from the city and made himself a home-a penthouse in Orange County, sue him.
“It’s good, what can I say” he forces a smile but he gives it up pretty quickly when Bruce sends him one of piercing looks.
“Sure you could use to have me here?” he glances at the corridor.
“Sure Bruice, there may not be a whole floor like you fancy ass is used to, but there is always room in my bed” he adds a eyebrow wiggle. Bruce smiles and Tony don’t even realize how much he missed it.
“I hope you’ll understand if it will take me a while before I can pay the rent” dry humor, oh god he missed it.
“I can think of something” another eyebrow wiggle and then he is hit with a pillow. “You know there are some girls dreaming about us having a pillow fight, you know ‘cause we are having a sleep over” another pillow hit his face.
“Come on, Tony, I’ll braid your hair” he says and Tony can feel his eye crinkle. Maybe he could do it, have a normal life for a change. “Thinking about boys?”
“Only you on my mind, sweetheart” Tony says and makes a kissy face. Another pillow. “Where do you even get those, I don’t own that much pillows!” yeah, he could get used to it.