1049: What Is It Good For?

[alonewillsing]

Away at War/Battle MemeWe all know war can be a hard time for everyone but those left behind? It can be torture. Hoping you get a letter or a call, staying glued to the television and cringing at those news stories. Guess what happens to you now? Your loved one has gone off to fight a war (battle, fight, in that ilk of things) and some time has

Comments

Seven

[igotlow]

Bruce was trying to just be pleased that he was home. That they'd told Tony and he was likely on his way, and he was going to survive, and that some way or another they would get on with life now.

But it had never been in Bruce's plans to disappear for months, to be injured and sick and gone, or to come home and know that he'd never see properly again. Everything was blurry, dark, vague shapes and occasional movement - nothing that any amount of glasses or vision correction could fix. How could he ever get back to his work like this?

He wondered if they'd told Tony.

[improvetheworld]

The months had gone by slowly. SHIELD was doing what they could, of course, to locate Bruce but he was never a top priority. Tony had priorities, too, things he couldn't get away from no matter how badly he'd wanted to. The call had come while he was working on one of his cars. A vintage Ferrari that Bruce liked and they never had a chance to use. Getting it back to working order kept Tony more or less away from the scotch, anyway

[igotlow]

Bruce had heard him come into the room. It was funny, how he knew it was Tony from how quiet he was and the click of his shoes - no doctor wore shoes like Tony did. He kept his eyes closed until he felt the hand in his hair, leaning into the touch.

"Yeah, I had a few delays." He tried to joke.

[improvetheworld]

"Was starting to think I'd have to rent out your rooms."

He cracked a smile even though he knew Bruce wouldn't be able to see it, but he hoped his tone conveyed it for him.

[igotlow]

"You'd hate having another roommate. You can barely stand everyone who's there already."

Bruce opens his eyes, finally. It doesn't help that he still can only see the vague black and grey shapes, something of a window, maybe, and -- no, he can't see any of Tony. He can't even find where he thinks Tony might be.

"I'm sorry I took so long."

[improvetheworld]

"It's all right. I'm just glad you're back."

He passes his fingers through Bruce's hair again before he starts fidgeting with the blanket to make it sit nicer over Bruce. Hospitals make him restless. And it's a lot easier to fuss over a blanket than focus on this clench in his stomach at what happened to Bruce.

"Doctor's say you should be fine to come home in a few hours. I fixed that Ferrari up for us."

[igotlow]

Bruce snorted. "It's not as if I can drive it."

He regretted it immediately, but now it was out there. Bruce had to redefine his life into what he could and couldn't do anymore, again. One more restriction. He was bitter and lashing out and he didn't mean to drag Tony into that - but what else could he do?

"I'm sorry."

[improvetheworld]

Tony flinched, just barely, fingers stilling around the glass of water that he was moving closer on the nightstand. He brushed it off quickly.

"It's not as if I was ever actually going to let you drive it anyway," he snorted. "You know the rules. My cars, me driving."

[igotlow]

"Yeah. Yeah, I know." Bruce sighed. He kept blinking, like at some point his sight would magically come back to him.

"I guess going home would be nice." He could barely fathom "home", actually. He'd been away so long, it was hard to believe it was over. Especially when he couldn't see it.

[improvetheworld]

"Everyone's really excited to see you. Dummy misses you, too."

With nothing left to fidget with, Tony pulled up a chair and sat next to Bruce's bed, watching him.

"I'm sorry. I should have ... Looked harder for you."

[igotlow]

Bruce shook his head. "They found me as fast as they could. Anyway, it wouldn't have made a difference. I got bashed in the head a while ago."

He tried to not feel angry about it, really. Things had gone badly for him, like they often did, and his life was irrevocably changed. It wasn't as if it was the first time.

[improvetheworld]

"I might have found you a while ago."

Tony ran a hand through his hair, suddenly feeling very helpless.

"We'll figure it out. I promise you we'll work out something for you work. I mean it."

[igotlow]

"How, Tony? How can I be useful? How can the other guy be useful? How can I keep someone else from finding me and taking me away now?"

He was more emotional than he wanted to be. If he had felt exposed before, it was nothing to how he felt now - blind, obvious, useless, and defenseless.

[improvetheworld]

"Because I'm not going to let anyone take you," he said, on the verge of shouting. He took a deep breath.

"Because you are still one of the greatest minds of the century and you still know things that can and will be an asset to making this world a better place. Until I figure out how to develop a hands-on assistant for you, you have JARVIS. He can do the math and test the theories and then upload the data into a droid. I don't know. I'll figure it out."

[igotlow]

Bruce fell silent. He was - well, he was touched, a bit. Tony making sure Bruce would still be, fundamental level, Bruce was nothing to take for granted. But...

"I don't want to be a burden to people, Tony. I hate that."

[improvetheworld]

"No, Bruce, what would be a burden would be you taking up space and being useless while you sat around and whined. You're going to go back to work and eat blueberries and listen to my music and we'll go right back where we left off. That's the end of it."