starkingenuity | (Reply)

From:

[I know how it is. It’s house stuff here all the time. And then a little bit of board games at Pax. But only after a full morning of house stuff. I’d love to see tour scrap book when it’s done!]

Awkward would take a long time and more than a lingering embrace. Tony didn’t have a lot of shame, but he did have a lot of lonely, touch-craving nights. This had been unexpected. Bruce being back after so long had given him something to reflect on.

Tony was used to people leaving him. But they almost never returned.

Maybe he was spending too much time with Happy. Since he’d moved into HQ away from the Tower, though, he hadn’t traveled nearly as much and his security chief had a whole compound to run.... and not just case after Tony like a toddler who wanted to constantly put up and mouth sharp objects.

Tony clasped the back of Bruce’s collar for several long moments, holding him too tightly, before he finally let go. There was something odd there in his dark eyes, heavily lined from a long and full life of mostly pleasure, something that seemed whole again.

“All right, enough mush. What can I get you to drink? DUM-E is off drink duty after last week, right you moron? I’m going to scrap you. Yes you. Hide, that’s right. You deserve it,” he told one of his AI. He might abuse DUM-E but he loved him too. “I don’t hear a drink order. I’m going to default to scotch.”