"Because you didn't have anyone." He answered without missing a beat. "And the...what you said when everyone was arguing, that scepter in your hand? I know how that feels. It's worse if you're alone."
A black tar pit of despair that dragged and sucked and drowned anyone and everyone; there wasn't an easy way out and sometimes even climbing up to the lip only meant holding yourself there until something kicked you back down again. "You're brilliant, I've been a fan of your work since your first published paper on anti-electron collisions, so it was kind of great to meet someone that...saw the world I did. How it is, how it works, and then a few steps beyond to 'well alright, how do we make it work better'. That's kind of rare, Honeybear."
Tony tipped his head to rest his cheek against Bruce's shoulder, comfortable as anything. "Ross didn't scare me, I'd tangled with him more than once over specs for SI equipment- he wanted me to design shit to contain you, did you know that? Never did because unlike everyone else in the world I recognized the pattern. Hulk didn't start shit till people with guns showed up. So why i the fuck would I give him more guns to cause more problems? So maybe it was to spite him a little, it definitely was to spite Fury but...mostly? You deserved somewhere safe. Someone that didn't want anything from you."
no subject
A black tar pit of despair that dragged and sucked and drowned anyone and everyone; there wasn't an easy way out and sometimes even climbing up to the lip only meant holding yourself there until something kicked you back down again. "You're brilliant, I've been a fan of your work since your first published paper on anti-electron collisions, so it was kind of great to meet someone that...saw the world I did. How it is, how it works, and then a few steps beyond to 'well alright, how do we make it work better'. That's kind of rare, Honeybear."
Tony tipped his head to rest his cheek against Bruce's shoulder, comfortable as anything. "Ross didn't scare me, I'd tangled with him more than once over specs for SI equipment- he wanted me to design shit to contain you, did you know that? Never did because unlike everyone else in the world I recognized the pattern. Hulk didn't start shit till people with guns showed up. So why i the fuck would I give him more guns to cause more problems? So maybe it was to spite him a little, it definitely was to spite Fury but...mostly? You deserved somewhere safe. Someone that didn't want anything from you."