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[annapeace.livejournal.com]

Title: I Need a Hero
Rating: G
Characters: Tony Stark, Bruce Banner
Summary: Tony has PTSD. In comes Bruce.

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After the dust settles a bit, Tony realizes he needs a place to live. The hospital was okay - he stayed in the room across from Happy, helped Happy score his nurse’s number and even learned to appreciate Downton Abbey somewhat. Then he stayed at corporate headquarters for awhile, dealing with insurance and all the paperwork that came with collateral damage (okay, maybe Pepper dealt with most of that, mostly he haunted the inadequate R&D labs while he healed and sent the kid toys). But HQ was an irritating place to live, too much business was conducted there and his (Pepper’s) employees either shied away from him in the halls like scared bunnies or stared at him in a way that uncomfortably made him wonder if they had tattoos of his face somewhere on their bodies.

Until his Malibu mansion gets rebuilt, he needs a better place to stay. Somewhere with a security system that can take on potential alien terrorist attacks, with its own generator to power all of his toys, with enough space to store all of his toys. Of course, he has a place that meets all those requirements…but it’s in New York. And Tony really, really doesn’t like New York.

Then he gets a call from Bruce. “You said I could come by…ten floors of R&D, better than Candyland?”

Tony hasn’t heard from Bruce since New York. Last he checked, Bruce had gone to ground somewhere in southern China. Hearing Bruce’s soft, tentative voice now brings back some bad memories, but also a good one, a memory of Bruce accepting berries from him as he worked around Tony on the Helicarrier lab. And Tony thinks it might be nice to have a real person in the lab to talk to again. JARVIS and Dummy are great, but Dummy can’t talk back and JARVIS is still ultimately just a ghost in a machine.

“Yeah, it’d be super great to catch up, but I don’t know about New York…” The sound of the city’s name, even coming from his own mouth, makes Tony flinch. But he doesn’t want Bruce to come out to California either. All of Tony’s best things in California are gone, it just wouldn’t be fair to Bruce to have him come visit a second-rate facility. Tony rarely has friends visit - okay, he doesn’t really have many friends - and he wants to make a good impression.

Tony takes a deep breath and makes a decision. “Okay. Yes, sure, why not. Can’t wait. It’ll be awesome.”

“It’ll be good to see you, Tony,” Bruce says gently. “I’m glad you’re still in one piece. And if you need someone to talk to, well, I’m willing to listen.”

Bruce has no idea what he’s in for.