Peachy

I'm Not in Love

Narrator's POV

"Tony I brought the spare parts you needed." Bruce said, coming through the door with a box full of parts.

Tony was screwing something together. "Place it right there." Tony pointed at the ground with the screwdriver, keeping his eyes on the part he was working on.

"Ah." Bruce set the box down. He looked around the room. "Where's Stephen?" He asked.

"He's out learning a spell or something." Tony said.

"He already knows how to do every bit of magic there is. What's he gonna learn now? How to pull a rabbit out of a hat?" Bruce laughed.

"Hey, don't go offending my wizard like that." Tony looked up and pointed at Bruce with the screwdriver. "He's capable of a-"

"Your wizard?" Bruce turned to Tony, raising a brow. There was a questionable look on his face.

Tony cheek's flushed a little pink. "Uh, yeah." His eyes looked away from Bruce. "He's my roommate. Therefor he's my wizard as well." Tony said. He went back to screwing the part together. "Plus he's always helping me around."

Bruce walked over to Tony, laughing a little. "Okay. Okay. I'll back off." Bruce said.

The room grew silent. Bruce picked up a part on Tony's desk and inspected it.

Tony stopped screwing and just looked. He was processing a thought. "I mean, he doesn't have to be my wizard..." He put the part down and lifted his head up, looking at a wall in front of him.

Bruce smiled down at the part he was holding.

Tony leaned back in his chair, still looking at the wall in front of him. "He's my roommate, so I decided to just call him that. That doesn't necessarily mean he belongs to me." Tony said. He looked over at Bruce. "Do you know if he belongs to someone?" He asked. Bruce raised a brow at him. "Like, if he's...I don't know...seeing someone, talking to someone...going out with someone?" Tony asked.

"Not that I know of, no." Bruce said, smiling and blowing at the part he was holding. He was getting a great laugh out of this. "Why?" Bruce smiled at Tony.

Tony rubbed the back of his neck. He let his head fall back, sighing. He looked over at Bruce, seeing the smile on his face. "Bruce, just..." Bruce laughed a little. "Oh, shut up." Tony put his hands to his face, which was flustered a shade of bright red.

"Aww, what happened to Molly?" Bruce asked, smiling.

"Uuuugh..." Tony groaned. He sat up suddenly and looked at Bruce. "Not a word to Stephen about this." He pointed at him.

"I promise. I promise." Bruce said, putting his hands up and laughing a little.

"Good." Tony laid back in his chair.

It was quiet in between the two again.

Bruce went back to picking at the part in his hands. "So..." He spoke. "How long have you been in love with-"

"I'm not in love." Tony said, turning to Bruce. "It's just a silly phase I'm going through." His eyes fixed on the ground now. "I've never been. Those people were just a distraction. Something to keep me busy." Tony sighed. "It doesn't matter." He looked up at Bruce. "I'll eventually get used to it and treat him like everyone else." Tony went back to screwing the part from earlier.

Bruce just looked at him.

"Come on, Bruce. Chop. Chop. We don't have all day." Tony said.

///0///0

Stephen looked up from his book and peeked over it to get a glance at Tony, who was at his desk working, while he laid in bed. It was 10:34 at night.

He could sense Tony's stress levels rising and put the book down.

Tony sighed and put the rocket shoes down. He placed his hands over his face.

"What is it Tony?" Stephen asked.

"It's nothing." Tony sighed. Stephen went over to him. "I just can't figure this out in order to get these into the air without malfunctioning." Tony pointed at the shoes. Stephen looked at the shoes then over at the blue projection that was an equation. "This equation is just-"

"Done." Stephen said.

"Hm?" Tony looked at the equation Stephen had altered and manipulated. He studied it. "Yes. Yes. This could work. How did you-"

"Physics isn't as hard as people make it seem. It's quite simple and fun." Stephen smiled at Tony.

Tony took his shoes and began to work on them, applying the functions of the new equation on them. "Tell me Stephen, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Stephen smiled softly and looked down at the ground. "I wanted to be a neurosurgeon."

"Mm." Tony said, working on the shoes.

"I just really like helping people, and I find that stuff very fascinating. It's just interesting. Saving lives for a living would've been a dream come true." Stephen said.

"But then?" Tony was screwing something into a shoe.

"Then I messed up my hands." Stephen said, looking down at his shaky hands. Scars ran up and down from his fingernails to the back of his wrist. Stephen grew quiet.

Tony took notice and looked up. He saw Stephen staring down at his hands. They were shaking. The expression on his face was sad. He didn't know why, but something inside him felt bad for Stephen. He wasn't going to let him be sad. He sighed. "Aaaaaaaawww." Tony faked a yawn and stretched.

Stephen looked at him.

"You know, I'm really tired." Tony said.

Sir, should I play your "Keep Me Up All Night" playlist?

Tony looked over at Stephen, who was raising a brow at him. "Uh...no, no Jarvis. Just shut down the systems and sleep." Tony waved his hand down on the blue projected screen, putting it away. He left the shoes on the table.

"You're really going to bed?" Stephen asked.

"Yeah." Tony removed his shirt. "I'm actually pretty tired."

That struck happiness in Stephen. "See? If you got some proper sleep, you would've probably figured that equation on your own." Stephen said, suddenly appearing in his blue stripped pajamas.

"Mhm." Tony said, removing his pants.

Soon the two were in bed.

"Pst." Stephen whispered. He was a little over excited because Tony was actually going to bed. Tony was actually looking forward to some sleep. "Tony." He whispered.

"Hm?" Tony asked, his eyes were closed. He was snuggled in the sheets. His back faced Stephen.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Stephen asked.

"An inventor." Tony said, trying to get some sleep.

"Aren't you that already?" Stephen whispered.

"Mhm."

It was quiet.

"Hey, Tony."

"Stephen." Tony groaned.

"Oh." Stephen tucked his chin under the covers.

Tony turned to Stephen. He wanted to make sure he didn't hurt his feelings. Stephen looked at him.

"What?" Stephen asked.

"Hmph." Tony smiled at Stephen and shoved a pillow in his face.

"Hey!" Stephen smiled.

Tony turned his back to him, laughing a little. "Goodnight Wizard." He closed his eyes.