In Plain Sight (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 26

"He's fine, in case you were wondering." Bruce leaned against the threshold, and observed as Tony bolted two pieces together.

Tony nodded stiffly, to show he'd heard, but otherwise gave no answer. Bruce waited patiently in his place, though.

Two seconds went by before the bearded man finally spoke.

"What, did they call you to check on how many times he could be beaten around before something broke?"

"More like they wouldn't let Thor or Steve check on him, and Natasha and Clint wanted no part of it."

"His face when he saw you must've been gold." He muttered lowly, and said no more.

Bruce walked into the lab and took a seat on one of the soft blue rolling chairs, set to watch his friend. Tony's brow was furrowed, and his hands lacked their usual precision, the screwdriver sliding off its mark half of the times.

"... You're not going to see him." The screwdriver's point slipped across the smooth metal surface and clattered on the work table.

"Fury won't let me if I tried."

"But you haven't." He rolled closer to the table. "It's been three weeks already."

Tony blinked slowly, counting back days until he realized that Bruce was spot-on with his dates. Three weeks... Three weeks in which he'd done absolutely nothing but hole down in his lab and sleeping. He didn't feel guilty, he knew Steve would've come to get him if there had been something important happening outside.

"I've been busy."

"Right." Bruce climbed to his feet and patted his shoulder once on his way back to the door. "I heard Fury said there was another sighting yesterday. You should probably tell Steve or something."

"Bruce?"

The scientist stopped and turned again, but Tony still faced his whatever-he-was-working-at.

"Yes?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"Did he ask for me?"

Bruce shrugged. "Not to me. But then again we're not the best of friends."

Tony looked at him over his shoulder, the hint of a smile pulling at his lips. "Did you even talk about anything or did you just sat glaring at each other for thirty minutes?"

The older man mirrored a small smile. "I did ask him how good of a host Fury was. As I told him, we could very well be cell neighbors one day. He seemed to like it enough to stop glaring for two seconds."

The inventor turned to his table again. "That's how he shows love, ask Thor."

"I feel honored, then." He turned to leave once more. "Ask Jarvis to check on that sighting, really. I get the feeling S.H.I.E.L.D. held it from us on purpose." He closed the door behind him, and Tony found himself alone once again.

"I don't suppose you are allowed to be here?" Loki spoke, and Thor froze on the threshold.

He looked around the white room. He thanked they gave his brother the privacy they didn't give him when they put him in his crystal cell back when he'd been banished, even though he knew he was surely being watched with hidden cameras. At first glance there was nothing on the room, but there were of course white chairs and a table all bolted to the floor and even a white sliding door at the back of the room that he supposed lead to a (probably white) privy. At last, he found Loki on a narrow, sheet-less and very white bed, where he laid still as a statue with his hands twined lazily over his belly, his eyes closed and his face blank. He had probably been sleeping before he entered. Just sleeping.