Relationship is a charged word and neither of them are the poster children for good mental health. Bruce has literally had to have an alien suppress the background noise of anger and its underlying fear. Now his head feels like a stadium that for his entire life had been filled to overflowing with screaming football hooligans until less than a day ago when all at once they were just gone, and now the rest of his emotions are standing out on the field wondering what the hell to do with themselves.

Why did he think it was a good idea to make relationship decisions right now? Tony's on the rebound from a six year committed relationship with Pepper; Bruce is on the rebound from a forty year committed relationship with rage.

He rubs his forehead to ease a headache that is entirely psychological. "And I'm pretty good at leaving, but I think you've noticed I'm not so good at getting pissed off lately."

It's easier in this body, but even now his stadium of rage has gone from jam-packed to having only a few seats occupied by an audience of marginally incensed croquet enthusiasts.

"We're going to have to work on trusting each other, and if we can't make that work, the rest won't either. If that's how it works out, I'm going to call that a no harm no foul, because face it, we were both fucked up long before we met."