Bruce just shook his head. "And you think I didn't know any of that? You created weapons, Tony. The first thing I knew about you was your company and the work it was in. I used to work with Ross too, before we became enemies. I was going to be his son-in-law. I worked on Project Rebirth, his prize project, created off of your father's work, of which I read extensive notes. Guess what kind of weapons Ross had stockpiled and used against me before you and I became friends. Don't treat me like I'm an idiot who can't see past my own issues, like I can't see the big picture."
He sat, hands together, shoulders low. "I saw the broadcast when you came back, before you became Iron Man, you think just because I was off hiding somewhere that I didn't know what the rest of the world was doing? I watched you, and I think that's why when we met, I was open to your friendship. I admired you. You were someone who was able to change, who was willing to put the work in. And I'm saying this as if its past tense, but it's not. I feel all those things now. When you looked at me, despite everything I was, and told me I was worth saving, I believed you. That trust, that's not something I give easily, but I knew, in my gut." He touched it, as if he could feel it now, pulling him in one direction, instead of roiling in anxiety. "I knew you were the real deal."
Bruce glanced around the forge, taking in the details, and he wasn't angry, he was talking in an even tone, like they weren't discussing something unbearably serious. "You can't know Ross, specifically him, like I do, because you haven't been his prey. You kept us from him, I know that, and you've done all of this, and I'm grateful. But you haven't seen the look in his eye when he knows he's going to tear your life to pieces. The way he smiled when you were in pain, because he enjoyed it." It hurt and it brought a terror in him like no other. "I loved him too once, you know. I wanted him to be my father. I desperately wanted him to be proud of me. It was so stupid, honestly, it was never going to happen. He hated me from the second he saw me, but he needed me."
It was the most he'd spoken about Ross, not in years, ever. Their particular relationship and the twists and turns within it, that he kept to himself, because it was raw. The sad confession about how he loved him once. It was all embarrassing, when he thought about it. Pathetic. "You can't control everything, you can't handle everything. No one can. You can try your hardest, and you have, and it still could be out of your hands. I don't know every detail of your life, of your heart, and you can't know mine, but we're still us. Don't act like I'm one of them, I would go to hell and back again for you, I wouldn't hesitate. But if I can't speak my mind to the only person I have, then I don't know what to do."
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He sat, hands together, shoulders low. "I saw the broadcast when you came back, before you became Iron Man, you think just because I was off hiding somewhere that I didn't know what the rest of the world was doing? I watched you, and I think that's why when we met, I was open to your friendship. I admired you. You were someone who was able to change, who was willing to put the work in. And I'm saying this as if its past tense, but it's not. I feel all those things now. When you looked at me, despite everything I was, and told me I was worth saving, I believed you. That trust, that's not something I give easily, but I knew, in my gut." He touched it, as if he could feel it now, pulling him in one direction, instead of roiling in anxiety. "I knew you were the real deal."
Bruce glanced around the forge, taking in the details, and he wasn't angry, he was talking in an even tone, like they weren't discussing something unbearably serious. "You can't know Ross, specifically him, like I do, because you haven't been his prey. You kept us from him, I know that, and you've done all of this, and I'm grateful. But you haven't seen the look in his eye when he knows he's going to tear your life to pieces. The way he smiled when you were in pain, because he enjoyed it." It hurt and it brought a terror in him like no other. "I loved him too once, you know. I wanted him to be my father. I desperately wanted him to be proud of me. It was so stupid, honestly, it was never going to happen. He hated me from the second he saw me, but he needed me."
It was the most he'd spoken about Ross, not in years, ever. Their particular relationship and the twists and turns within it, that he kept to himself, because it was raw. The sad confession about how he loved him once. It was all embarrassing, when he thought about it. Pathetic. "You can't control everything, you can't handle everything. No one can. You can try your hardest, and you have, and it still could be out of your hands. I don't know every detail of your life, of your heart, and you can't know mine, but we're still us. Don't act like I'm one of them, I would go to hell and back again for you, I wouldn't hesitate. But if I can't speak my mind to the only person I have, then I don't know what to do."