starkingenuity | Radioactive

"That isn't /meeting her/," Bruce stresses, but then Tony opens the door and despite his better judgement, he's forced to go in to meet her.

Or stand awkwardly in the door way.

She's 'resting' -- as much as a person can rest all while knowing the equivalent of liquid hot magma can flow through her veins at the slightest temper flare.

Which honestly, isn't much.

So when the door opens and two faces appear, Pepper is pretty much awake with a laptop sitting in her lap and a pen that she's nervously chewing the end of.

"Tony. Hi. You brought a friend."

"You remember Doctor Banner. Tall, dark-- No, wait, wrong guy." Tony tugs over a stool and sits beside her, smiling softly. Bruce hadn't been with them long at all. A few days, really, just enough time for Tony to book him safe passage out of the country before SHIELD could get their hooks into him.

It's hard to tell by looking at her how she's feeling but he takes her hand without flinching. He's done the same for Bruce too.

Tony just has very little in the way of rational fear of the nearly one hundred percent fatal.

"...Hello, Ms. Potts," Bruce says quietly to her, but he doesn't immediately come any closer. No fear of her, just trying to be polite. They barely know one another and entering into her room is.. well, a bit informal, specially while she has no idea why he's here.

"I remember his name."

Pepper swings her legs over the side of the bed and sets the laptop aside in the same movement. She stands and smiles, but doesn't come forward to greet Tony, and she doesn't offer a hand to Bruce.

"Hello, Dr. Banner. It's a pleasure."

For a moment, the exhaustion looks like it's caught up to Tony again. His eyes go blank as she passes him and his jaw goes slack but he's back a moment later, standing up again, hands in his pockets.

"Figured this is sort of his area."

Bruce's hands wring together, squeeze one another, before he steps forward. He tries to give a little smile but it tends to fail. Then, he shifts his shoulders and offers his hand. It doesn't matter what's changed about her; he knows she can't hurt him.

"The pleasure's all mine. Stark's been telling me what's happened, and I'd like to help get this fixed, if you're willing."

She doesn't miss that look, Tony. If she were more willing to touch you, she'd make you sit down and get some rest. Pepper just -- doesn't want to risk setting him on fire.

Speaking of -- she eyes Bruce's hand, but finally takes it after an awkward pause.

"More than willing, Doctor. I'd love to see what you can do."

Tony makes a face and draws a finger across his throat. "Ah, no. No, you probably shouldn't say that," he says, but it's really just a tease. "Then again, what did you call it? Your party trick? It's kinda cool. Almost like bouncy castle cool!" He'll just be back here. Rocking on his feet. Trying not to be envious of that hand. He's already promised her that she's pretty much stable! What more will it take?

What are you five, Stark? Bruce gives him such a look before looking back to Pepper. "Actually, in a way, I think... our conditions are closely related, though not brought on by the same thing, and I think I can use that to help you."

Pepper knows Tony well enough to know that he's back there getting not so quietly pissy about it. And -- she does trust Tony. She just doesn't trust herself yet. Not after what she'd done to Aldrich in her rage.

It's his 'pretty much' that still has her hesitating.

"How so?"

"Big green rage beast, petite and smoking hot fire vixen... Actually, I think I saw a Japanese cartoon like that once," Tony muses.

What? He's sad and he's uncomfortable and he just wants his girlfriend back and he wants to stop feeling like something is sitting on his chest all the time.

He's gotten very use to sharing a bed and something tells him Banner's not going to want to help out on that forever.

"I think I am going to ignore that," Bruce murmurs to Pepper. He meets her eyes, then says softly, "emotional changes affect your body now, more than it ever did before, am I right? Enough emotion suddenly has your mind being flooded and you find it harder to control?

...And you're worried about hurting other people." Giving himself away with a flicker of his eyes to Tony. Afraid of hurting Tony.

"Probably for the best," she murmurs back, corner of her mouth twitching and threatening to reveal a tiny smile.

"But yes. That's...exactly right."

She doesn't miss that look, either. Her eyes follow Bruce's and a brief expression of confusion flickers over her face before understanding dawns.

Exactly, Banner. So you do get it and Pepper has no idea how to feel about that.

Edited 2013-05-07 00:53 (UTC)

Well Tony knows how to feel about it-- "Maybe I don't exactly understand, but I do understand," he says, feeling just a little bit left out. He is a dangerous man. His tech has killed millions of people. He tends to get everyone he cares about killed so...

So yeah. Okay. Not the same.

Bruce's expression is sympathetic, but not pitying. Oh yes, he knows exactly how she feels.

Unfortunately, he always knows he needs to break the news of his first findings. "What I can tell about this virus... is that to do anything on the level of actually fixing the most dangerous parts of it, I have to use the virus to fight the virus. It has the ability to re-write the genes that your every cell has contained within. We need to make it a new set of genes to write it."

She chews a little on her lower lip. Pepper wonders if that's not what it has already done.

"So when and how do we start?"

Okay...so Tony Stark is going to sit over here in the corner. And pout. No. Not pout. And not scowl. And certainly not make little 'hmphinh' noises because that would be ridiculous and childish and no, Banner, he's not five years old!

You're pouting, Tony Stark, and Bruce is ignoring it. ~~You're five years old.~~

"As soon as you'd like, but..." He hesitates, then says more calmly than he feels, "I need samples from before you came into contact with the virus."

Tony is definitely pouting (or scowling, whichever he prefers to claim) and Pepper's resolve wavers enough for her to fall back and rest her hand on the back of Tony's chair.

"How...would you get something like that?"

Pepper glances between Tony and Bruce, fingers nervously clutching at the chair back. Careful, Pepper...

"I don't exactly keep DNA vials on my dresser."

Ah ha! "You give me DNA samples when you first started to work for me." Now look who's helpful. And still not five years old. Tony's hand comes up to lightly touch Pepper's elbow. That's allowed, right? He missed her. He's not going to say that out loud in front of either of then, but he misses her terribly. "JARVIS--"

""Accessing closed database file: Virginia Potts."

Blink. WHAT? Bruce looks over at Tony. "You make people give you DNA samples when they start working with you??" Yes, that is most certainly a disturbed expression.

"JARVIS, can you send her DNA information down to the tablet I was working on?" Bruce asks the air around him, then looks back to Pepper.

"The cure will come slowly, but... I think there is a way. We'll focus on the worst of the problems, first."

Pepper's head swivels to look down at the seated Tony, her expression slightly horrified, amused, and affectionate. The touch is good -- it's nice. It also makes her ache, because she would really like to be in his arms right about now.

"You kept that?" Why is she surprised? She should not be surprised at all.

At the same time, she's thankful for Tony's creepiness. If he hadn't had it, she's not sure what the alternative would be. Like she said -- it wasn't something she kept nestled in with body spray and other various toiletries.

"Drug testing, DNA profile scans for important areas-- Yes, Banner, I make people give me DNA samples if they want to get anywhere near my lab."

No, he doesn't have yours. No, he doesn't need yours. He has other methods. No, you don't get to find out about them.

Pepper's smile makes Tony's face change, light hitting his eyes again. "Of course I kept it. I might want a kid some day and our genomes have a perfect-- Please don't hit me, I like my jaw unfractured."

Bruce doesn't want to know. Ever. Just be careful as everything of his is poison.

Watching Tony with Pepper is like watching a completely different man. A fourth person in the name of Tony Stark Bruce has seen. The first - the man in a business suit on the news. The second - a scientist and engineer he could highly respect the work of. The third - A jerk who has ego issues and a snappy (though somewhat amusing) sense of humor. And now... the fourth - a man who clearly loves this woman.

A little part of him enjoys seeing this small glimpse of man number four.

Then Tony became man number three very quickly. "I'm not fixing your jaw if she decides to do that - you deserve it."

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