Such Sweet Nothing

“So, is this how it is going to be while he is here?” I didn’t even get a chance to say hello to my phone as Tony’s accusing tone met my ears.

“What are you talking about?” I closed my data pad screen and pressed my fingertips to my forehead.

“Well I remember counting four of us for dinner and there is only three here.” I sighed as I looked up at my ceiling and cursed the penthouse above me.

“I never accepted your invitation.” I argued back as I pulled on my shoes, knowing I would give up this fight and live to fight another one.

“It’s a standing invitation that you always accept.” I laced up my sneakers and stood up from the couch.

“I’m leaving right now.” I made sure he heard the grumpiness in my voice as I hung up on him. I scanned my badge into the special slot next to the private elevator and rode it up one floor. The doors opened and I was instantly greeted with the smug faced guy himself and the guy I was trying to avoid outside of the lab.

“Where is Pepper?” I asked noting there were no sounds coming from the kitchen.

“She had to run downstairs to get something.” Tony answered as he stood up from the couch.

“So you can’t count to two?” He made a face at me as I perched on the armchair of the recliner that was furthest away from the sofa.

“I am going to order dinner and then we will be good to go.” I almost got up to throw a physics book at his head, but he was out of there faster than I could wrap my hand around the spine. I could feel Bruce looking at me, waiting to see if it was okay to say something.

“Thank you, for all of the research.” I only nodded in his direction without ever breaking eye contact with the floor.

“It’s a really great starting point.” I nodded once again just hoping he would stop talking.

“Do you hate me?” His voice was very, very quiet.

“No.” I answered after a moment.

“You don’t?” His tone said he didn’t believe me and I guess I couldn’t blame him.

“I wish I did.” We were interrupted as Pepper arrived in the elevator.

“Oh, hey guys.” She greeted with a smile.

“What’s wrong?” She must have noticed me staring at the floor and the grim look on Bruce’s face.

“Nothing, we’re fine.” I answered as I finally looked up from the floor.

“Where’s Tony?” Her tone let me know she thought he was up to something.

“Kitchen I’m guessing.” I pointed in that general direction.

“Okay, well I’m going to go change and then I’ll be back out.” Well, so much for there being some sort of buffer between us.

“Can we talk?” I laced my fingers together and looked up at the ceiling.

“I’d really rather not.” I almost couldn’t believe how big of a bitch I was being to him. I could be mean with the best of them, but not in an ice queen way.

“Please. I just have some stuff I would like to say to you.” My eyes met his for the first time since he walked back into my life. He looked older, wiser. It looked like he had seen way too many things he shouldn’t have. His hair was prominently grey and curly, just like I had remembered it. The thing that caught me up were his eyes behind those familiar glasses; they were the same shade of brown and they looked like they remembered happier times.

“Yeah well so did I, but you left before I could.” I snapped back into it quickly and tried to ignore the pulling feeling in my gut.

“I know I messed up. I just want to make things right between us, I miss being your friend.” There it is, the ‘F’ word.

“I know everyone tiptoes around you and I know I’m supposed to feel sorry for you, but at this point in time I am picturing myself slapping the shit out of you.” I saw the small tug of a smile on his face.

“What?” I snapped at him. If he thought this was funny I actually would slap the shit out of him.

“I just miss being treated like a normal person sometimes. Most people wouldn’t threaten to slap the shit out of me.” I had to stop myself from smiling back at him.

“Yeah well most people don’t know you like I do.” I shot back as Tony stepped back into the room.

“Hey! Look at that. You two are speaking. That’s wonderful.” He smacked his hands together and grinned at the both of us.

“Bite me, Stark.” I huffed as Pepper re-entered the room.

“Well someone just got hostile.” Pepper joked as she kissed Tony on the cheek and took a seat on the couch to the right of Bruce.

“Why don’t you make yourself more comfortable?” Pepper asked as she curled her legs underneath her and picked up something to read from the table.

“I’m fine.” I said from my uncomfortable seat on the armchair.

“No you’re not.” I stuck my tongue out in the general direction of my cousin before Tony made one swift movement and pushed me over into the chair.

“I hope your suit smashes you in the face tomorrow.” I muttered.

“What? What was that?” He put his hand to his ear, as if he didn’t hear me.

“I said I hope your suit smashes you in the face tomorrow.” I annunciated my words slowly, and a little bit more loudly.

“That’s not nice.” He countered before taking a seat in between Pepper and Bruce.

“So, how did you two meet?” Oh my god. I am going to kill this man.

“We met in London.” Tony swiveled his head to look at me.

“I didn’t ask where.” He answered smartly.

“In a lab. When is dinner getting here?” He squinted his eyes in my direction.

“Never if I don’t get more background information.” You’d think the genius would have looked all of this up, but maybe there were no records of Bruce and I working together.

“Tony.” Pepper had her warning tone on.

“What? I just want to know.” He shrugged and then set his sights on Bruce.

“We were both visiting a lab in London, she recognized my name, and I recognized hers. I asked her out for coffee and we became friends.” I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as I looked up towards the ceiling now.

“Well that’s when she was just visiting, right? She lived in Connecticut and then moved to New Mexico, was that because of you?” Tony had just skipped over asking me anything at this point. He was referring to the time I moved to Europe to further my research on clean energy before he had an interest in it. Europe was before Bruce’s time though, we ran into each other when I was just visiting London.

“Yes, I’m the reason she moved to New Mexico.” I let out a breath of air.

“You were friends with a scientist dealing in gamma radiation and failed to tell me?” Tony now set his sights back on me.

“First off, I don’t have to tell you shit. Second, we were not that close back then. Can we drop this please?” I growled the last part as Pepper placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder.

“She doesn’t like to talk about us because I’m an idiot.” Bruce spoke up after a moment of complete silence. I turned to look at his sad expression.

“Not because you’re the big green rage monster?” Tony asked.

“He isn’t a monster.” I snapped as I stood up.

“Excuse me, but I don’t think I’m in the mood for dinner.” I said as I began making my way towards the elevator.

“Kylie, wait. I didn’t mean to upset you; I just want to know why you never bothered to tell me you knew him.” Tony was right behind me as I waited for his elevator to arrive.

“You don’t have to know everything, Tony. Now please just lay this to rest.” I stepped into the newly arrived elevator.

“Will you still help him?”

“It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.” I managed to get out as the doors closed in front of us.