The Not So Silent Hill

[starkingenuity]

[Continued from: here]

Staring at the little house, Tony was noteably unimpressed. The child and other half of a god (however loosely you wanted to use the term) really ought to have not been so...small. He was expecting more, and the way he stood with his hip out and arms crossed proved it. They'd take a quinjet to the nearest open field and one of Tony's smaller cars after that, loaded into the back of the plane after he'd ripped out a few seats.

With Extremis stable enough to exist in several now fire-breathing and extra strong mice rampaging through specially designed cages to contain them, JARVIS' databases and hacking ability getting them the information they needed to arrive here, and Alessa more or less content with the nurse she and Banner picked out, this had been the next logical step. Even so, he expected it to be a little more difficult.

Wearing a black t-shirt and dark jeans that only accentuated his somewhat femininely proportioned hips and backside, Tony Stark was still Tony Stark and flashiness and he went hand in hand.

Like a brand name.

It didn't help that the yellow convertible was parked across the street, in direct contention with the overall look and feel of the neighbor around it.

"You can knock." He wasn't too keen on touching things other people did.

Comments

[starkingenuity]

There was a strange sort of look on Tony's face as he gazed at Bruce, blinking. Love. Love. He didn't doubt that Bruce was telling the truth, but there was a sizzle in his stomach that he didn't trust. What was that? There was a moment of hesitation, a moment of keep thought on the matter, before it hit him.

And hit him hard.

What had he been running from? He never cared what people thought of him, so that couldn't be it. Let them talk. They always did anyway. He'd just been scared that if he held too tight, Bruce would leave and never come back. Love had never been the issue. Loyalty to Pepper and desire to keep it casual with an easily spooked man, that was all he'd been trying to get over.

The corners of his lips tilted up first. The light in his eyes glowed. "I wasn't lying," he told Bruce, and he meant it.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce curled his fingers in Tony's hair. It was fascinating, how expressive the man could be. His feelings were always written in every line of his face. Bruce had never understood how no one could read Tony like he could, because to him, Tony was an open book.

"I wasn't either."

Bruce let go of Tony's hand to wrap his arm around the other man's waist, pulling his body against his and tasting the salt on his mouth again. They fit together like puzzle pieces.

He didn't know how long this could last. Whether something would force them apart, or Bruce would have to go on the run, or Tony would get hurt or killed--but right now, right then, they had that moment in the ocean water.

[starkingenuity]

Sex was immediately on Tony's mind, not just running interference in the background with equations and pieces of blueprints like it usually was. He was going through the self-realization phase of their relationship all over again, trying to figure out why he was so damned attracted to Bruce, why he couldn't get enough of him or his mouth either. Each and every kiss was not only appreciate but devoured, heart fluttering around inside of his chest without any particular rhythm he had been use to before.

It was strange, he decided in a split second decision, to be held like this but after another second passed, he found he didn't mind it. Bruce could hold him however he liked and those strong arms of his made Tony feel safer than he could remember being outside of that suit of his.

When the kiss broke and he was half hard in his swim trunks, Tony tried to lure Bruce to bed with a little more kissing and some backwards walking towards the house.

He knew, in the back of his mind, that they could never actually finish off, that Bruce's heart rate and the Hulk were linked, but that didn't mean that he couldn't have a little foreplay.

Or perhaps they could do whatever they did in Silent Hill that let them sleep together? Was there a secret?

He didn't know yet but soon he wanted to be an expert in all things Banner.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce didn't need too much coaxing. They hadn't even wiped all the salt and sand from their legs before they fell into bed. He just wanted to keep kissing Tony over and over until they both suffocated.

He dug his fingers into Tony's arms, leaving half-moon marks where his nails pressed, and he bit Tony's lips, pulling and teasing and sucking on it. There was so much he wanted to do to Tony. So much he wanted to make Tony do.

[starkingenuity]

Though he didn't remember the time Bruce had said those deliciously illicit things to him at the Tower in New York, Tony burned for them all the same. He shifted his hips up to provide himself with a better friction than before and tumbled Bruce over onto his back if the stronger of the pair would but let him.

If he were lucky, that would allow him greater freedom to remove clothing and lick saliva into chest hair (which should not drive him as mad as it did) and rut into Bruce's thigh like teenagers did during some heavy petting sessions.

He should have a little more grace and decorum than that but--

Living through a nightmare, as they had in Silent Hill, just got him going.

He wanted to put his mouth everywhere and, Bruce permitting, he would do just that.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

"Fuck."

Bruce couldn't keep from groaning and panting like a bitch in heat. Tony's tongue was leaving trails in his chest, and oh feeling the man's cock rubbing against his leg. There was nothing dignified or graceful about this--just two men in love who desperately wanted to fuck each other's brains out. And Bruce loved it.

But when Tony's kisses started going towards his abdomen, Bruce caught him by the hair, intending to drag him back up to kiss him on the mouth. "No lower. You can't go lower."

He didn't dare tempt fate, not when he was so keyed up. But he was ready to take care of Tony. He was so sick of his boyfriend wandering off to take care of himself, and he really wanted to see his face when climaxing again.

[starkingenuity]

Tony paused to look up at Bruce with one eyebrow quirked. He called it his Spock Impression. "Uh... Okay, well listen, I've only had myself to go on for like...a decade and I might be a little rusty on male anatomy but I'm pretty sure all of the really good stuff happens down lower," he commented before he was pulled up a little too roughly (oh, he liked that) and kissed silly enough to be breathless.

Genius or not, sometimes Tony was downright stupid and now was no different. He whined against Bruce's mouth before he realized what was wrong with his being down there and rolled over.

How had he managed the frustrated blue balls for the last few weeks?

Tony wasn't good with denial.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

It hurt. Tony didn't do well with denial, but Bruce didn't do well with depriving Tony. It frustrated him to never be satisfied, and it made him insecure to have it thrown in his face that Tony needed something he couldn't give.

So he rolled with Tony, running his thumb against the other man's stubble while kissing him. "Just because you can't go down lower doesn't mean I can't."

He wanted them to have something good and normal. He wanted to be able to please his boyfriend, to make him feel good and not be relegated to stroking himself in the bathroom. He wanted to be able to give him the one thing he would never measure up to any of his past liaisons with. Was that so much to ask?

[starkingenuity]

It might be but Bruce could always try. Sex was not something that needed to have, exactly it was just what he was use to and...yeah. Okay. Maybe he did need it. He wasn't old enough to have sworn it off just yet.

So Tony was not going to complain if Bruce wanted to get him off. Later he might start to become frustrated that their trysts were one sided but for now, oh... He didn't remember how Bruce's mouth felt but that didn't matter when he could make so many new memories of it.

Tony, as usual, was a talker. A director. A backseat blowjob artist. "Teeth...yeah...yeah there..a little harder, like...fuck yes just like that!"

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce could follow directions. Half of sex was listening to your partner's feedback, both verbal and not. Tony being so clear about what he wanted made listening very easy.

That said, Bruce couldn't help but inwardly roll his eyes at how particular his boyfriend could be.

It turned him on so much to hear Tony's voice get so breathy, to have him in his mouth. He wanted touch himself while he did it, just a little, but he kept his hands curled into the sheets, ignoring his own erection and thinking about equations and physics experiments in the back of his head.

He waited until he got some signal that Tony was close to coming. Then he reluctantly removed his mouth, replacing it with his hand to finish Tony off.

[starkingenuity]

Tony cried out as he came, a soft sort of sound that bubbled up from his chest and throat his throat. He twisted under Bruce and sat up once it was over to invade his mouth with his tongue. It was maddening not to be able to help Bruce off as well, but they already had one Hulk scare today. There would be other times to figure that out, and when that happened...

Well, they'd need a three day hiatus from the world and a whole lot of lubrication.

Panting as he broke the kiss, Tony stared down at Bruce with mussed up hair, strands of which stuck to his forehead, and bright eyes.

"You've got talent, Banner. I'll give you that much!"

[honeyibrokeharlem]

"Mmm. Knew there was a reason you kept me around."

His cock was aching. He wanted to fuck Tony so badly, make him scream and leave angry red scratches and bite marks all over him, but instead he just kissed him.

"I need to go get cleaned up. Give me a second."

He untangled himself from the sheets, going to the bathroom to wash his hands, brush his teeth, and try to meditate away his erection. It didn't quite work, but at least he wasn't fantasizing about mauling his boyfriend anymore.

[starkingenuity]

While Tony appreciated the lack of mauling, he wasn't satisfied to lay alone in bed staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling as he listened to Bruce run the water in the ensuite. His heart felt heavy though there was little he could do about it now and it left such a bad taste in his mouth that he climbed out of bed and pulled on his boxers. To say that the sexual encounter with Bruce had been empty was a misnomer, but it felt stilted and lonely too.

Tony waited for Bruce back in the bedroom with a can of warmed up Spaghetti-Os and some flat soda, both of which were resting on a cookie sheet covered in one of Tony's shirts to look sort of like a doily. Sort of.

He'd even tried to make garlic bread by spreading butter on stale saltines.

"Not really much of a cook," he said, sitting half naked by the offering. But he had tried.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce arched an eyebrow when he came out and saw the dinner parody. No, Tony was far from a cook, but the fact that he tried at all spoke volumes. The man wasn't one to put a lot of effort into gestures--he was one to just pay for someone else to put effort into it.

"Offer for cooking lessons still stands." Bruce slid onto the bed next to Tony, kissing the corner of his mouth. "Thank you."

Then he started to nibble on the saltines first. Yes, they were just stale crackers with butter, but there was love there, so he could work with it.

[starkingenuity]

"If I do that, you might decide it's okay to up and leave." It was actually a real concern of his. What tied Bruce here? The man had been running for seven years. Maybe longer if you counted 'emotionally' running. So yeah, actually, it kind of terrified him to think that he could wake up one day and poof, no more Banner.

He had Alessa now...but what if Alessa went with him? Now there was something to be said about the massive insecurities this all was inducing, so he stole a cracker and half choked on it.

"Shit. I'm not trying to kill you, honestly!"

[honeyibrokeharlem]

"Trust me, Tony, you need a lot more than just cooking lessons before I think you'd survive a week without me." Honestly, without Pepper, JARVIS would be stuck being Tony's sole babysitter. A babysitter that could be turned off by the baby wasn't always the most effective.

Bruce would by lying if he said there was no possibility of him leaving. There was always a chance he would have to pack up and leave. The military was getting more aggressive every day. They called him a military secret, their property, something they needed in the fight against terrorism and aliens. He was scared of being chased out of the United States all over again, and he wouldn't dare take either Tony or Alessa with him, because Tony was too recognizable and would never last, and Alessa was a little girl and on the run was no place for a little girl.

Bruce rolled his eyes, giving Tony a gentle nudge with his elbow. "It takes more than stale crackers to kill me, Tony."

[starkingenuity]

Bruce's words, his tone, and the fact that he was even trying to eat this slop pretty much left Tony with too much emotion welling up in his chest for one man to endure. He found his fingers creeping across Bruce's elbow and shoulder as he rested his head on his bicep. It made eating difficult, but this wasn't gourmet stuff and he was trying to give Bruce an out.

"We're the smartest men in the world. We've got to be able to figure this out."

Curing Banner of his condition might never come to pass but there had to be something to let Tony fit his way inside of him-- He just had his release but the thought was making him half hard again.

He needed to just breathe.

"Otherwise, that's just embarrassing. We might have to join Mensa or something!"

[honeyibrokeharlem]

Bruce abandoned trying to eat. He was more interested in the man resting on his arm. He started playing with Tony's hair, curling so he could face him a little easier.

"We can figure it out. There was a man who was able to temporarily raise the action threshold of the transformation. We might be able to find his work and build on it."

Bruce tried to pretend he didn't notice Tony's erection. He wouldn't be able to last through a second round.

[starkingenuity]

"Moved to the top of the list," Tony said affectionately and nuzzled the underside of Bruce's chin. That was not like him. He knew how he behaved normally and nothing he and Bruce did was normal at all. It made him wonder if that was significant. If this was what he had been waiting for since he was a child to fill his loneliness.

The meal forgotten, Tony busied himself lightly stroking patterns into Bruce's skin until they both fell asleep. Morning might well be brutal. There was no telling how stable Alessa was just yet though her vitals were good. That did not dismiss the potential for a other episode--

Tony just hoped that he would be woken gently by JARVIS rather than to the house burning down around them.

[godandhermother]

Eeeeeh, it was half and half.

Alessa woke up before them. She decided to take her new body out for a spin. She didn't remember how to walk, so she just ended up rolling out of bed onto the floor.

If the yelp she made when she fell wasn't enough to wake everyone up, there was a lot of dust on the floor, and she sneezed. She sneezed fire, actually. She could now breathe fire, and the fire caught on her sheets.

She rolled away from the fire (it wasn't the ideal time to remember how to crawl), then just projected herself downstairs to grab a bucket of water. She had some trouble finding a bucket in the unfamiliar surroundings. Her pillow caught on fire. She found a bucket and waited for it to fill in the sink. The bed posts caught fire. She took the filled bucket upstairs and dumped it on her bed. She shorted out the lamp on her bedside table and nearly electrocuted herself.

Her one comfort was JARVIS bear. All the excitement made him fall from her windowsill right on her head.

Day one of having a body: not off to the best start.

[starkingenuity]

It wasn't the smell of burning that roused him, he'd had his nose buried in Bruce's soft curls. It wasn't even the alarm because when he slept (which wasn't too often), he was dead to the world and little noises like sirens never bothered him. No, it was JARVIS' voice and Bruce's stirring that caused him to open one brown eye in annoyance.

"Sir, the sprinkler system is failing to turn on. I believe the pipes have melted."

Tony groaned. "Melted?" An image of Alessa's not so little room fire appeared on the wall and after wrestling with the sheets around his ankles, Tony was to the door.

No doubt, Bruce was ahead of him. The trouble was that in the lab, there weren't exactly windows. And the fire extinguisher in the kitchen had expired two years ago. Ooops.

[honeyibrokeharlem]

"Get Alessa out of there. I'll get a fire blanket."

Every lab was equipped with a fire blanket. Even if Tony's fire extinguishers were expired, Bruce had made sure that there had been a fire blanket in the lab.

Alessa, for her part, had a very cranky expression on her face as she tried to psychically quench the fire. Why the hell did she try water in the first place?

The fire was resisting her attempts to make it go out completely, but it wasn't spreading anymore.

[starkingenuity]

Scooping up the angry seven year old ended up being one of those things that might end up falling into the 'stupid' column of things to do, much like separating two dogs fighting over a bone, but Tony did as he was told and high stepped right on out of his lab, out of the building, and to the beach where there was nothing inherently flammable.

He let Bruce deal with the mess inside and plopped down in the white sand with Alessa, grinning at her scowling. It only took one mention of 'burping' or 'breathing' fire for Tony's eyebrows to shoot up and his hand to go with it.

He wanted a high-five. Only Tony Stark, a man wholly capable of blowing himself up several times in any given day because he ignored his own safety protocols would think it cool to find out that his daughter could sneeze and catch her room on fire.

So sue him.

[godandhermother]

Alessa rolled her eyes. She high-fived him anyway.

But she didn't move her hand away from his. Instead, she traced her fingers along his, feeling the grooves and calluses of adult hands, then grasped his palm like she'd never let it go, while her other hand dug into the sand, running grains through her fingers and getting them under her nails.

Her expression didn't move from its scowl, but her eyes filled up with tears. She hadn't had a chance to enjoy the diversity of touch, the feeling of the sun on her skin, in so long. It was baring down on her now, not through a window or in the shade, but right on her face.

"You're really stupid for someone so smart." Her speech was barely comprehensible, with how clumsy her tongue was. She didn't acknowledge the tears, even when they overflowed her lashes and ran down her cheeks. She could smell the ocean. She could feel the sun, the sand, and her new guardian's hand. It was a lot to take in.

I'm going to try to be so much better about tags from now on! <3

[starkingenuity]

Tony watched the girl with a mixture of happiness and understanding. He didn't make light of her tears, though he did brush them away when they threatened to drown her. He kept right on smiling, letting her trace his skin or his face or his beard or anything else she wanted to feel.

"You wouldn't believe how many people have said that," Tony replied, glancing only once over her shoulder to be sure that the whole mansion wasn't up in smoke. Banner was doing a good job playing fire marshal, sure, but Tony needed him to be out here, needed him to come and experience this with them.

It wasn't quite like baby's first words or baby's first step but it was pretty damned close.

And Tony was so proud of her...so proud of them...and of what they could accomplish.

"Maybe tomorrow we'll go for a swim."