starkingenuity | Radioactive

Tony presses a finger to his lips and gives Bruce a 'shh'ing sort of command before he opens the door to Pepper's room. The place is lined in monitors and recording equipment but otherwise, he's done his best to make it comfortable for her even if she refuses to come back to their actual bed two floors up. If she thinks herself a danger, she's just as likely to burn the place down from here as she is from beside him but...

He's not going to give her any more fuel for the panic fire, pun intended.

Tony lets Bruce in first and follows after. "Pep? Honey? Guess who's here?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

redhotpepper

She buries her face in his hair and inhales; she'd missed his warmth, and his scent. Arms around him, he's firmly boxes in between herself and Bruce.

"Don't apologize." Her voice is a little muffled. "He needs you, too." More than she'd realized, apparently.

From:

aggravated

Needs him? Bruce looks down at the couple laying curled up together, then sighs to himself. No, he needs you. He needed someone to help him sleep. Bruce is fine with providing that as needed, that's why he became a doctor. Still... His fingertips lift and gently brush Tony's hair, light, just a moment, then he grabs his tablet and settles himself in for the haul.

But he finds himself reading and re-reading the same thing over and over, unable to focus.

From:

starkingenuity

Generally, when Tony picks out bedroom furniture, he doesn't select bed sized based on sharing it with someone that could potentially use the leg room if he has a bad dream. Still, the mattress can comfortably hold more than just himself and Pepper so if you decided on extending your nap from earlier while Tony is actually sleeping pretty well, now's a good time for it, Banner.

With Pepper's arms around him, Tony is actually sleeping pretty easily. He's already slid a hand across her forearm to her elbow. Being close again--

He was worried it might never happen.

From:

redhotpepper

Pepper doesn't say anything, but she saw what Bruce did and she wonders at it.

Not for long though -- with Tony's heat against her, she's out pretty fast. If Bruce doesn't crash with them, he's in for a long night.

From:

aggravated

Eventually, still sitting up, Bruce lets himself fall asleep. However, not after setting an alarm that wakes him every hour and a half, following the natural REM cycle, with a gentle vibration. It's enough to check on the pair, as he promised Pepper, before falling back asleep.

It's one of his Better nights, actually.

From:

starkingenuity

Tony's too. No nightmares come. He does not wake to a cold sweat, just to a supple, beautiful woman and to Bruce Banner. He finds he doesn't mind either.

"Awake?" That's to either of them. He sort of has to pee and that's a pity. He'd really like to roll over and kiss Pepper right about now, but the morning breath would be cruel and he's not sure she'd allow that. He would probably have to convince Bruce to stay through it too, not for a desire for an audience so much as to keep his back warm.

What? He's selfish, okay?

From:

redhotpepper

Pepper? Not up. She's out cold and unmoving except for steady breathing. Tony would have better luck with Bruce.

From:

aggravated

As soon as Tony speaks, it wakes Bruce. His eyes open a little and he looks around, verifying where he is, before he looks down. After the last several checks produced nothing, seeing Tony look back up at him is a touch surprising. So he gives a faintly awkward smile. "...afternoon, I think."

From:

starkingenuity

Trying to get comfortable when half his side is asleep and he doesn't want to wake Pepper is...annoying. He rocks his hips forward so that he can at least stretch out one of his legs and curl his toes. "You think?"

The way that Bruce is sort of bunched up makes him grin. Someone's been slouching and sleeping sitting up.

"You're allowed to lay down, Banner."

From:

aggravated

"I'm alright," Bruce says softly. "I wanted to make sure you were both okay." He shifts a little, ready to get up with Tony awake. "Spend a little time with her. I might manage breakfast with Jarvis' help."

From:

redhotpepper

Well with all that going on, she's definitely going to wake up. She stretches and yawns, flexing her back before wrapping an arm back around Tony.

"What time is it?"

From:

starkingenuity

"Afternoon, supposedly," Tony says and takes the time to stretch out so that Pepper can move her head to hi shoulder. "Banner's going to make us brunch. And mimosas." Thanks for that, Banner. Tony nuzzles his nose against Pepper's hair and breathes in. She has a different sort of scent about her. Different, not bad.

From:

aggravated

Watching them makes Bruce both awkward and -- and reminds him of the past. "Excuse me." He forcibly gets up and leaves the room, waiting to get into the kitchen before he rubs his face. His stomach churns and he feels... Like an invasion.

From:

redhotpepper

Pepper likes the sound of brunch and mimosas, but Bruce is...acting strange. She watches him go, blue eyes following his form until he's disappeared from view.

"Hm." Is all she says.

From:

starkingenuity

Tony might have noticed too if his attention isn't on his girlfriend full time right now. It's been awhile. He's use to certain... Things. Hope you don't mind if he invades your space, Pep.

"I'd say its more like mmm. And hello there. Been awhile. How've you been?"

From:

redhotpepper

Well, that gets her attention and pulls her focus away from Dr. Banner.

"Oh, you know. Still a hot mess. How about yourself, Mr. Stark?" She can't say she minds her space being invaded at all.

From:

starkingenuity

The smile he gives her is the same a cat who's gotten his cream. He rolls over onto her and strokes her cheek, eyes bright under the dark fringe of his mussed up bangs. "I still like hot messes," he assures her. "Got my eye on one in particular." He kisses her nose, a bit moist, but still closed lipped. No need to gross her out with his breath.

Banner's still in the back of his head, rubbing his chest, but that's neither here nor there at the moment.

From:

redhotpepper

She slides her arms around his waist and clasps her fingers together, content to simply keep him there atop her and close.

"So long as you don't mind, then I'm happy," she murmurs, lifting a hand to brush a stray piece of hair away from his forehead. "Missed you."

From:

starkingenuity

His smile fails for just a moment, but she's always been able to read him and so he doesn't try to keep it up any pretense that he's happy or content at the moment. "Don't run away from me again." His eyebrows furrow as she touches him. "You gotta know by now that I'm just going to chase you."

From:

aggravated

Meanwhile, down in the kitchen as Bruce works to cook up breakfast without burning anything, something Tony asked for earlier makes him pause with his arm around a bowl of eggs and a fork whisking it in the other. He looks up a little and asks to the air, "JARVIS, what is a mimosa and how do you make it?"

From:

redhotpepper

Pulling in a long breath, she stays quiet for a beat, simply savoring the moment and the closeness.

"I wont." Pepper cups his face and looks at him, expression serious. "I'm sorry, Tony. That was the wrong thing to do." Her eyes crinkle, just a little. "Won't happen again. I promise."

From:

starkingenuity

"Good. JARVIS, get that down, voice recognition coding and time stamp," Tony grumbles against her shoulder. Maybe he shouldn't be so reliant on being held but...

But he likes it.

"One moment, sir," JARVIS chimes in. "I am instructing Doctor Banner on brunch."

From:

redhotpepper

That makes Pepper laugh - both Jarvis and Tony, actually - and she pulls his face away from his shoulder to give him a proper kiss, morning breath be damned. Ask Pepper if she cares. Just ask her.

Edited Date: 2013-05-12 05:44 pm (UTC)

From:

starkingenuity

Nope, too busy kissing to do anything else, okay? He murmurs somewhat happily against her lips before it sinks in that Bruce might be trying to cook eggs on a Bunsen burner. "Mmm...hold that thought for like...five...ten minutes. Damage control. Be right back. Get extra comfortable, remember that sports bra thing I said before? That might be good? Yes? Great, be right back."

From:

redhotpepper

Yes -- kissing is good, and she's getting pretty into it too - at least, she was before Tony's ADD kicked in. She groans a little but nods. Fiiine.

"Alright, alright. Hurry back."

And she's going to brush her teeth while he's gone.