Tony has never had to pursue someone this much, though it had only been an afternoon. Two days? Three? He can’t keep track of the time. Bruce was out of his life for so long that now that he’s come back, he almost can’t fathom that he’d ever left. And over a woman of all things! This is probably different territory for the both of them. They’re not young men. They’ve got the majority of their experience with women. And they’ve got the same sort of wit and genius. There’s got to be a flashpoint here that neither are seeing, or don’t want to see, though

Tony’s become the poster boy, despite how the media sees him, for monogamy over the last seven years. Bruce has been the poster boy for celibacy. Their connection shouldn’t exist, but it does. It has for years, overcoming long bouts of absenteeism.

“I’ve been called worse,” he offers, not sure if Bruce is trying to keep him from unbuttoning his shirt next or if he’s egging him on to see if he’s in it for the long haul. The guy is maddeningly hard to read, even for someone who has had to become very good at reading people (even if he doesn’t care about them or what he gets off of them). “But this, or the hot tub, aren’t deal breakers. It’s not one thing or nothing. You’ve got the wheel here. I laid out my cards. All of them, the whole spectrum. You can pick your hand.”

Friendship. Romance. A little of each. It’s up to Bruce.