The second he sees him, he knows.
He doesn’t have to consider the name that Fury gives him, he recognizes him from every domestic fantasy and every dream.
Robert.
Except apparently he prefers Bruce and Bruce is so goddamn beautiful, the name and the man, and he’s always had a thing for smart men and curly haired men and he’s always had a thing for the man whose name is stamped on the bottom of his right foot, right on the heel.
Bruce is a little older and he’s insanely sexy and he gives Tony the sweetest smile and they could’ve found each other sooner but fate says they have to meet now. They meet with the world collapsing around them and with metal instead of a heart and a monster underneath skin that Tony has always wanted to cover in kisses.
It’s sad, and it’s horrible, but he takes what he can get and he offers Bruce blueberries and he cheers internally when Bruce says they’re his favorite. He learns as much as he can in the few minutes of quiet that they have between waiting for software to load. He learns about physics and gamma and helping people and about the color yellow and yeah that’s kind of like the gold of Tony’s armor, but not really. And so they grumble and argue about the semantics of yellow versus gold and he’s two seconds from reaching out to pull him into a kiss and Bruce is moving closer too and--
Captain America is actually a fucking asshole.
Bruce falls through the ground and Tony freaks out internally but he can’t do anything but what he’s supposed to do, so he runs and he hopes and he wants to swoop in and save Bruce but then he’s not Bruce anymore.
He’s giant and green and the helicarrier surveillance cameras don’t do him justice apparently because Natasha sounds terrified over her comms and god fucking dammit when will this piece of shit work.
Agent Phil Coulson dies and Clint Barton is crying in a room somewhere because his soulmate mark has just turned a sickening shade of white and Tony’s taken off his shoes almost ten times. Steve questions it until he sees the black markings that make up Robert Bruce Banner on the bottom of Tony’s foot, and Tony’s so filled with relief that he couldn’t explain even if he wanted to talk to the guy.
Bruce is alive. He’s gone, and maybe lost, and maybe not coming back, but he’s alive. And he never actually wanted this life, he was forced into it accidentally, and Tony won’t blame him for hiding out until the coast is clear. He’ll definitely love Bruce regardless.
But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t cheer under his breath when he’s swooping away from a giant alien and Bruce is there and not-Bruce and still his soulmate and hero.
It takes them some hours and some help and some hard exhausting moves and when Bruce shifts back he realizes what Tony did and he turns so pale and he won’t speak to Tony.
But Tony is persistent.
So soon after that, Bruce has kiss swollen lips and the sweetest smile Tony has ever seen and he’s like a fucking gift from a god Tony doesn’t believe in, and he finally gets why people look at Steve with such sympathy, probably being much younger than his soulmate is now.
They go to that shawarma place and they eat and under the table, he hooks his ankle with Bruce’s and Natasha’s giving them the most loving stink eye and he looks at these people, and he looks at the city through the shop windows, and he finally looks at Bruce, who is…
The newly found love of his life is bobbing his head and eating and giving a happy dazed smile to all the others (receiving some glares in response) and god, he wants to kiss his nose because Bruce has said he likes Tony’s lab and wants to look around it some more and that is fucking science talk for either let’s fuck in it or let’s get married in it.
He wants both and nothing less. And Tony Stark gets what he wants.