starkingenuity | (no subject)

"Yep, actually, I did hear you, Doc. I'm just ignoring you." Don't be a buzz kill. Stark is riding high from that last fight. "It's just a cut. I've gotten a lot of cuts. Some bactine and some bandages and a little kiss over it from Jarvis here and I'll be just fine." The tall, leggy blond at his side doesn't even bother to roll his pale blue eyes. He's worked with Stark for years, too long really. He knows how the man acts.

"Sir."

That always makes Stark laugh and he lightly pats Jarvis on the back of his drivesuit. "Not your boss anymore, Jarv," he reminds him gentle. Or maybe he's just trying to drown out the mousy little guy following him. And that's when it hits him, halfway down the corridor, through the cheering crowds and the crews trying to get his Jaeger back into one piece. He knows that mousey little man follow him. "Shit. You're Doctor Banner! Well hey, nice to meet you finally! Man, we studied your tactics against Onibaba for months after that attack in Tokyo!"

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From:

starkingenuity

Stark doesn't have anything else to say about it now. He can't think about restructuring Stark Industries at the moment to include more biomedical applications. He just can't. There's entirely too many steps between now and then.

For the rest of the day, he's caught between teams, caught between waiting on this or explaining that or trying out an idea or disproving a theory. Normally, he doesn't work well with others. This situations isn't normal though.

It's amazing what can be done when a bunch of geniuses put their minds to something.

Prototypes are ready to be tried and gels are ready to be tested. Tony is optimistic. And starving.

From:

aggravated

Bruce, for the most part, hides down in his lab. No one sees him for lunch, and dinner he only comes up to the mess hall long enough to throw not one tray together, but two. Only then does he send a message to Stark, a very quick one.

Three ready to test - B

He still isn't a huge fan of cell phones or any other communication device like this, as they track all too easily, but at least he hopes Stark will get this and stop buy. The clock is eyed, knowing he should sleep, but he ignores it. For now. He won't be able to forever, or the Other Guy gets grumpy. No one likes it when he's grumpy.

From:

starkingenuity

He has to duck Jarvis but he does make it down to the lab before too long, wheeling himself in his chair. Walking would have been all right too but his arms get really tired holding the damned thing. It's not even all that good for his biceps! He rolls over the bump between the hall and the room and stops just short of Banner's desk.

"You summoned me?" He asks with a grin. Conductive biomedical gel has to be one of the weirdest things he's ever commissioned.

Bright brown eyes seek the other's and he waits to be noticed.

From:

aggravated

Bruce looks back to Stark and gives a small smile. "I did." He reaches over and pulls over three jars - two are clear, one is a goopy brown. "You'd be amazed how fast something can be delivered when money speaks instead of actually wanting to help someone." A dry sort of humor in that.

"This one, and this one," tapping one clear, one brown, "are mine. The last is a company on the east coast. I'm not going to apologize for the fact it is actually used for pregnant women, very safe." Except for the little lift at the corner of his mouth.

From:

starkingenuity

"Well if you can't trust what's used for pregnant women, what can you trust?" he asks, picking up the last jar before he opens it and gives it a sniff. He turns it around in his hand, then sets it down again and shrugs. "I can tell you right now that having to re-lubricate a potential chest socket with brown sludge is pretty much a no-go for me. So let's test the first and last." The second one? Right into the waste basket under the desk.

Sorry Banner. It's not an attempt to be rude or anything, but that stuff doesn't exactly look like chocolate sauce.

"Are you running simulations or slathering this stuff on lab rats? If it's the latter, I'd rather not be named King of the Lab Rats. You understand."

From:

aggravated

"I tested it on myself, first," Bruce says with non-chalance, "then on the same rats I use to work on Kaiju Blue projects. It's all relatively safe to begin with, so you shouldn't worry." He gives a small smile, still amused at Stark's prima donna attitude.

"More importantly, all three of these have Yinsen's approval, even if one doesn't have yours." He opens up the first, looking to Stark. "First test is pretty simple - thirty minute reaction test. After that, I want to test it over night. Tomorrow, we're going to test it on the site itself." Pointing to the center of his chest.

From:

starkingenuity

Stark wrinkles his nose which makes all of his unkempt facial hair bunch up. His forehead wrinkles too as he lays his forehead across his forearm. "You're going to slather me with goop."

He just has to say it out loud. It sounds so awful. And Banner looks so amused. And smug. It's hard not to smile at that.

"Well all right then. If your heart is settled on it." He rolls up his sleep and offers his arm with a grin. "Do your worst. Or your best."

From:

aggravated

"You make it sound perverse," Bruce says with a wrinkle of his nose, but he takes out only a little bit. Then he stands there, waiting, with it on his two fingers. It could look 'perverse' in the right situation. "Warming it up," he murmurs after a stillness and silence. "It's quite cold and I might as well put my higher temperature to work."

He's going to try and not make this awkward.

From:

starkingenuity

"Well it is a little," Stark says, whining ever so slightly the way children do when they want to be right. He does roll up his sleeve, however, offering the underside of his arm to Bruce and the warmed up gel. "Just tell me I won't get super powers, grow a third eye, or become a woman, Banner. I'd never leave my room if the last one happens and the world needs me."

He's like the annoying kid in school that always tries to get the last word, or say something foul. Even if all he wants to do is make someone else notice him or smile for his efforts.

From:

aggravated

Bruce chuckles a little and shakes his head, but more out of Stark's ridiculousness than anything else. "Nothing radioactive in it, or all that special." He took Stark's hand in his, steadying the offered arm while he spread just a little of the clear gel on the tanned skin. Stark would find his hand to be surprisingly calloused and very warm, but the grip was very gentle. "I'll be checking every five minutes, and if we hit thirty without issue, we'll put plastic and tape over it for the overnight test."

His head lifts, eyes meeting briefly, before he looks away again.

From:

starkingenuity

"Are you going to be checking it every five minutes over night too?" Stark's eyes are bright even though the areas around ten are crinkled. He's not a young man. His youth has passed but his vigor is still there in droves. He tries to live like a man half his age and until K-Day, he probably succeeded.

Why he is insisting on flirting with Banner, though, is more emotional than it is anything else. He's so careful usually with that. He does know he can't connect with people usually.

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From:

aggravated

"Mmm, I think not." Stark's youth may have passed by, but that hasn't changed his spirit. That spirit all but pours out of him, and it infects people around him, for good or for worse. Bruce can feel it every time he's around Stark, like an aura, but he keeps it at a distance. Stark flirts with everyone, as far as he can tell, so Bruce lets it off as meaningless.

"If you have any reaction, I need you to notify me immediately, no matter what time it is. Understood?"

From:

starkingenuity

"Or, and hear me out here, or we just bunk up together." He's just putting it out there. "I should have someone with me at all times and Jarvis needs his rest." He doesn't usually go for Bruce's type. Male, occasionally, sure, everyone likes a little caramel in their otherwise strictly chocolate laden dessert schedule from time to time but otherwise? Bruce isn't anything he's ever interested in. And, for the moment, he is pretty sure the attraction is really just intellectual. The trouble is that Tony doesn't know how to be friendly. He just flirts.

Bruce Banner is getting hit with the flirt, therefore, full force.

"It'll be like school." If you went to boarding school. "We'll tell ghost stories or something."

From:

aggravated

Bruce gives Stark such a look for that, flirt safely deflected, bluntly stating, "I don't see how that's like school," but he still looks thoughtful about the suggestion. Finally, after some hesitation, he does relent, however. "I'll offer Jarvis my room. He might enjoy the peace and quiet." Not that Bruce would be sleeping, his mind already is telling him, but he could live with that for a little while.

Bruce is not caramel, Stark, and right now, you've been macking more on white chocolate than chocolate.

From:

starkingenuity

Maybe. Bruce is beyond his comfort zone and know what? Tony likes it. He arches an eyebrow at the offer and tilts his head distinctly to the left. "Or we just take your room." Private bunks have bigger beds and it's not like they take up much space to begin with. Jarvis shouldn't be worried. Or told. He's got this really bad habit of smirking lately when it comes to anything involving Banner.

Tomorrow, once he's got the all clear, they can move on to the next phase and, by rough estimate, be finished with at least the smaller, prototype reactor by the end of the week.

He's got extremely high hopes for himself, obviously.

"Bag me up, Banner."

From:

aggravated

Stark might like taking Bruce beyond his comfort zone, but Bruce will equally firmly barricade himself inside that zone and not step beyond unless necessary. So right now, Stark's suggestion is being weighed and dismissed as being unnecessary. "There's only one bed in my room." Not even realizing what Stark might be trying to push.

"Give it a few more minutes. I want to make sure there's no skin reaction before I go about bagging you fully." Which sounded strange, spoken aloud.

Bruce honestly believes that Stark's time range is accurate. He's seen the speed at which Stark can work, and how quickly the whole creation of the arc reactor has been going. It's been incredible to watch. It reminds him, though, that often war is the vice proven to increase technology by leaps and bounds compared to peace.

From:

starkingenuity

War doesn't matter as much to Tony -- who knows that wars happen to be part and parcel of daily life somewhere in the world and thus, he gets to stay in business -- as his own livelihood does. The arc reactor had been a maybe later project until it had become obvious that he needs it. Now the time tables are pushed straight up. And rightly so. He can't have this car battery forever.

He just can't.

Leaning back in the wheel chair and flexing his arm as he waits for the gel, Tony shrugs. "I'm not going to molest you. I promise. But if you want to climb up into a bunk that's fine too."

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From:

aggravated

Bruce isn't beyond the idea that people can learn, they can change, and Stark seems to be following that. Maybe not for the best reasons, but it's happening. So, he will help bolster it as much as he can.

Bruce's eyes flicker down to where the gel sits, and finally, he wipes it away. His fingertips probe gently, feeling out the flesh, before giving a nod. "No sign of a reaction visually. Do you feel any pain? Itching?" Lifting his eyes to briefly meet Stark's eyes. "I don't plan to sleep, so I'm not concerned about the bed situation. ...If you think it'll upset Jarvis to change rooms, I suppose you could come to mine."

From:

starkingenuity

"Dose of a blast of radiation powerful enough to kill you doesn't just give you a healthy glow but also makes you an insomniac?" Believe it or not, Tony is attempting to be charming and personable.

Even if he tends to fail. Epically. Constantly. Bruce might be sensitive about his situation but Tony takes it all in stride. It's part of who Banner is and Tony finds it as easy to comment about as the way his hair curls and the greying at his temples.

From:

aggravated

Oh Tony.

Bruce frowns, pulling back from Stark at the words, then actually shakes his head just a little. "Quite the opposite, actually." His tone has gone clinical instead of what he would consider friendly. "A heavily increased metabolism, increased heart rate and body temperature, and however my body has survived leaves me needing more sleep than the average person by an hour or two."

He takes out a bit more of the gel, very uncertain about the whole topic of conversation. He's never really spoken to anyone outside of Betty and of course, "Mr. Blue" about his... condition.

From:

starkingenuity

Oh, Stark knows this song and dance. This is the 'pull away,' and it's something he's already ready for when it comes to the battlefield that is business. He's a people person. He's arrogant, but charming. People fall for him, people get into bed with Stark Industries, and they sign massive contracts with his company all based on a single shared connection.

So he turns it up and immediately grabs for Bruce's hand. His eyes become darker as he tilts his head down, chin to his chest, and gazes up through the canopy of his eyelashes at the scientist. Bruce is not allowed to disengage him.

"Then I guess we'll be bunking together after all. We both are in need of our beauty sleep. And my arm feels fine. But it could do with a little ice cream."

From:

aggravated

There is a whole range of emotions that crosses Bruce's face with this little change in Stark's game. It ranges from shock to just shy of disgust to absolutely confusion before settling on a mild form of 'oh hell no'. He lightly pulls his hand away from Stark's, the contact alien to him and leaving him vastly more on edge.

"You're more than welcome to get ice cream from the mess hall once I get the plastic on you, Stark. I just need to observe you over night. Do you know where my quarters are? Just down the hall here, last door on the left. I'll be awake, making sure that you stay breathing through the night in case of a reaction."

Stark is confusing him more and more until he isn't sure what to do with him. The mild flirting could be easily disregarded, but this was more forward. Why is Stark even doing it? It makes no sense at all to his mind.

From:

starkingenuity

Friendship being such an alien concept to him, something he wants so badly, that Stark is just pulling out all of the stops. He looks as surprised as Banner had for a moment and blinks after the hand is pulled very firmly away. He covers it up with a nod.

"I could bring you something back if you wanted. Or not. I don't know, you might have some moral objection to ice cream. Not judging you." He does want to leave for a few minutes though. He wants to leave because he isn't sure how to tip to scales away from awkward.

This is where, in a business transaction, he usually leaves the sweet deal on the table and goes outside to flirt with the receptionist for a few minutes while share holders and top defense contractors argue over him.

From:

aggravated

His little comment actually starts to tip the scales back as in all of the confusion, it ends up leaving a tiny smile on Bruce's face. Of all the things to say, Stark... "Actually, I like a little bit of ice cream. I don't have much of a sweet tooth," never allowed to have it as a child, "but ice cream, that I'll have a little bit of, sometimes."

This time, he reaches down and takes Stark's hand, turning it so he can apply a bit of the gel onto the strong forearm on the top of it instead of the inside. The reasoning might not be obvious until he puts the plastic on, the tape ending up on the much less hairy underarm so it'll be less painful later.

From:

starkingenuity

Stark watches Bruce's hands for a long time, the one in his, the one doing the wrapping, and only when he can risk it, looks back up. Oh, that smirk is back. That 'I've won' smirk that he gives as he offers someone his gold plated pen to sign the dotted line. It's just a little bit different this time because it's got a deeper meaning. He's gotten something a little better than just a new contract.

"I'll see what they have in the mess, then," he responds as smoothly as ever. "And I'll meet you back in your room so you can mother me, read me stories, and make sure I keep breathing with this goop on me."