Rien n'est éternel

His trip back to California to see his mom had taken a few days longer than the intended weekend. Johnny had been about to just go back to his apartment, but despite the late hour, he ended up at the penthouse instead. He almost robotically ended up at the lab and as soon as he keyed in the code to get in, saw his dad still down there. "You're getting as bad as your husband," he teased, affectionately petting one of the robots when they came over and (excitedly?) chirped. He boosted himself up to sit on the table beside where Bruce was watching. "Mom says hi." ; @brcbvnner

Bruce was catching up on the work he'd missed in the past few days. Whatever the hell happened at Ella's party made him want to spend more time with his kids, non-SHIELD-related work be damned. "Hush you," he rolled his eyes playfully when Johnny walked into the lab and didn't waste a second to comment on his new working habits. but he was glad to see his son back home, safe and sound. "How was your trip? How's she doing?" he asked, closing his laptop so that he could focus all his attention on Johnny.

"I mean, you could die." Technically, they both could. And if a Midgardian death trap box was what actually took him out, Loki was going to be pissed. "Well, shit. Fucking your husband was the top of my agenda tonight," he deadpanned, just looking at the other man for a moment, before rolling his eyes. "Fucking killing him maybe," Loki added as he flipped his phone around to show Bruce, having finally gotten a text through to the husband in question. Tony's reply to them being stuck in an elevator was, unsurprisingly, without me? :( "I really hate him."

"Mhhhm, tell this to the big green guy. He won't let me," Bruce said with a shrug. He knew Loki would figure out what he was getting at but he didn't feel like dwelling on it right now. "You can have him, I'm tired of him already," he sighed, leaning his head against the elevator wall and tossed his phone to Loki, last text from Tony saying 'I guess it's a no to you taking your shirts off :/' in reply to Bruce threatening to divorce him. "The question is, how the hell are we going to get out?"

"Might need something a little stronger than this to handle that," Tony teased, though his smile didn't reach his eyes like it always did when he was in a better mood. He closed his eyes and let himself rest against his husband, not immediately responding to Bruce's question. "I would if I knew what to talk about. I can never remember what I dreamed about when I wake up." Which, he supposed, was a good thing. Because he could remember darkness and a feeling of not being able to breathe, so he had a pretty good idea of what his dreams were about. "I just wish I knew what was setting them off, you know? Usually something does." Tony eventually lifted his head off of Bruce and reached up to brush his hair from his face. "But I'm sorry I woke you up, baby."

"Or we could pawn her off to her brothers for the day. She's the most responsible of the three anyway," Bruce chuckled, his fingers running through his husband's curls. He let him rest against him for as long as he wanted. "You're still thinking about the gala, aren't you?" Bruce asked softly. He would be lying if he said that whatever happened there didn't make him even more worried and paranoid. And he knew that Tony was feeling even worse than him. "You didn't wake me up, baby. I woke up," he said and leaned in to kiss him. "We're married, Tony. Your problems are my problems, prenup be damned."

"Hi," was what he said when his husband, unsurprisingly, joined him in the kitchen. Tony had given up tossing and turning in favor of just getting up for the morning, but it was still only a little after 5. He sat his coffee mug on the counter and gave Bruce a look. "It's decaf, before you bitch at me," but his words, and the expression that accompanied it, were halfhearted. Eventually, he leaned back and put his head on Bruce. "I'm okay. I just had the dreams and shit again." ; @brcbvnner

Bruce felt his husband stirring beside him but not even his arm wrapped around Tony was able to settle him. When he left, Bruce gave him some time alone before making his way to the kitchen as well. "Hi, baby," he smiled as he stood in front of him. "Our demon child will be up in approximately half an hour, she's all the caffeine you need," he teased and leaned up to kiss him before he let Tony rest his head against his shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it? It's yet another night in a row it happened, darling," he spoke softly, pressing a small kiss to his temple.

“Yeah, not as many people around to stare.” Life as the Winter Soldier had made him grow accustomed to the darkness, hiding in shadows to carry out missions. Now? Now he liked the dark so he could hide for other reasons. “Could probably walk around as the green guy and people wouldn’t care, huh?”

"Most people are just too drunk to pay attention to anything or anyone else," Bruce mused. He tilted his head at the other's question, wondering how he came to this conclusion. "Well, the green guy is a destructive force that isn't really receptive to any feedback. And people aren't too fond of their stuff getting mindlessly Hulk-smashed."

"Blah, blah, blah, Harvard." He kissed his way up the side of Bruce's neck. "I didn't hear the words Tony or my husband in that sentence, so I don't actually care." Tony only moved back, just enough, when Bruce turned in his arms and leaned in to properly kiss him. "Yeah, I know I am. But you love me, so." Tony smirked and pressed another kiss to his lips. "But seriously, babe, come on. We both can't have raging insomnia and it's my birthday week, so you can't tell me no."

"Unfortunately I do love you a lot," Bruce said against his husband's lips but pulled slightly back just to look up at him. "I don't have raging insomnia, thank you very much. And I thought I tired you out enough to make sure your raging insomnia is not going to interrupt me working," he added but there was a fond smile on his face as he kissed him back. "How convenient of you to already come here shirtless, like I'm with you only for your looks."

Loki scrunched his nose, but kept quite for the time being. "Well. I can't exactly get us out of here at the moment," was what he eventually said, as was evident by the drink still in his hand. "Unless you want to risk ending up split in two or in China." As Bruce made his way to sit on the other side of the elevator, Loki pulled out his phone. "I didn't take you as being claustrophobic, Banner." But then, as realization hit him, he stopped. "Wait. Are you claustrophobic or is the other you claustrophobic?" Loki looked up at him. "You're not going to..." He took a step back for good measure. "I swear, if you send me through the fucking floor again, I will haunt you everyday for the rest of your life and eternity."

"At this point, anything would be better than this," Bruce mumbled though in reality, he wasn't really looking forward to being spliced or whatever. That's why he chose to patiently wait until the staff fix the problem. "I'm fine, Odinson. It's not like I can die," he rolled his eyes. "I'm annoyed and I really don't want the other me to make an appearance tonight. So don't try to fuck my husband again and we will be fine," he said, giving the other a big fake smile.

“Yep, we're going to go and run this off,” Loki abruptly announced as he walked over to his daughter and niece, scooping them up into his arms. Morgan and Ella had long abandoned their tea party and were now picking flowers from the garden to arrange into crowns. Eisa and Astrilde were inhaling every sugary substance within their reach. Astrilde pouted when she dropped her cookie, but neither protested as Loki carried them away. “Go,” he said, putting them both down, and they ran off. He rolled his eyes and walked over to his best friend. “They honestly make me feel so bad for my mother,” he remarked, watching the girls for a moment before turning to Klara. Seeing the look on her face, his expression softened. “Darling, if this is about him, he's just here because he's never been told no a day in his life. Not until you." He paused and added, "And your dad's a gigantic asshole.”

As usual, a thousand thoughts per second were going trough Klara's mind. And as much as she hoped it wasn't visible on her face, her best friend knew her better than anyone. There was no way she was going to get away with trying to bullshit him and pretend everything is fine. "I'm pretty sure we were put on a leash but nobody wants to admit that," she rolled her eyes playfully and got up from the couch to set the sleeping baby in her bassinet. "It's not just that," she sighed. "I mean, I hoped that once he sees Lovisa, he's going to stop being such a dick but once again I flew too close to the sun and got my hopes up too high," Klara said as she sat back down on the couch, resting her head against Loki's shoulder. "I was out with Tony the other day and she was following us again. I just--," she sighed again, her gaze briefly following Ella as she was busy with her flower crown. "I wish I could understand why is she doing it? She's just making it all more difficult for herself. And her birthday's coming up, you know damn well there is no way Rafael is even going to let her breathe near Ella. I just don't get it, Loki. Why is she fighting the custody so much and then pulls shit like that?"

"I can see that," Bruce nodded in understanding. He, of all people, knew how important it was to find something that kept you grounded and he knew that different things worked for different people. "City at night truly has this calm aura sometimes, doesn't it?"

"Seeing as we're stuck here for the unforeseeable future, don't make a sound if you want to survive the night."

"If I want to survive the night?" Bruce asked, raising his brow. He moved to sit on the opposite side of the elevator, bringing his knees to his chest. He never thought he was claustrophobic but then again, he was never stuck between floors with an annoying pain in the ass either. "I'm going to murder Tony when we get out of here."

"You're starting to get like me, doctor," Tony teased as he walked into the lab, doors shutting behind him. He smirked as he walked up behind his husband. "It's almost midnight, amore." Tony wrapped his arms around Bruce from behind and rested his chin on his shoulder. He pressed a kiss beneath his ear and said, "Nothing in the world could be this important." ; @brcbvnner

The moment he heard his husband walk through the door, Bruce knew that Tony was just not going to let him work in peace. "Well, baby, if you hadn't been trying to distract me the entire time, I'd have finished this paper on time and Harvard wouldn't have placed a bounty on my head for not delivering it," he said, rolling his eyes playfully and turned around in his arms. "You're really the worst, you know that, right?"

"Mm," he hummed, reaching up to run his hand through Morgan's wet curls. Johnny stopped at Bruce's question and snapped his mouth shut, settling on shrugging instead. He followed them inside and took Morgan upstairs to get changed, coming down with her a few minutes later. "Question," Johnny started, after a moment of silence. Running a hand through his own still damp, curling hair, he walked over to pour coffee into his mug. Back to Bruce, he continued, "How were you able to forgive Tony for leaving without telling you what he and Pietro were really doing?" He finally turned back to face his father. "Because you got over it. Y'all are fine." Johnny leaned back against the counter. "I'm still not. Like, I love him. But I'm still pissed off. We were about to get married and he screwed it up."

While Johnny and Morgan were upstairs getting themselves changed, Bruce set the coffee machine on and set the plates, making bunny waffles for both of his kids. Once they were back, he helped Morgan hop on the stool but once he heard Johnny's question, he picked her up and carried her to the living room. "It's Bluey time, munchkin," he pressed a kiss to the top of her head before walking back to the kitchen. "I forgave him but that does not mean I forgot about it. I'm still pissed off at him and he knows that if he ever does it ever again, he will be served with divorce papers the second he exits the jet. But ever since that, he's been doing anything he can to prove that I can trust him again," Bruce said, truthfully, and took a coffee cup in his hand. "Ironically, your brother doing basically the same thing barely a month later shook him enough to fully get it. Which mind you, Peter is still basically grounded for," he gave him a look before his expression softened. "It's okay if you're not there yet. You can love him all you want but if you don't trust him, it will never work out between you two. Take your time, make sure you set clear boundaries with him and he doesn't cross them, and be patient with yourself. There's really nothing else that will magically make it all good again," Bruce added. "It will be a challenging and long road but you'll get to the end eventually. Whatever the end will be, son."

Tony looked up at the sound of his husband's voice, giving him a small smile as he approached him. "Nope. No displays of jealousy tonight." He took the glass Bruce brought with him. "Mhm," he hummed in reply, gaze falling past him to where the king in question was, mingling around his guests. "I kinda see why Bambi went all psycho batshit now." Tony turned his head a bit, kissing the inside of Bruce's wrist as his hand rested against his cheek. "I'm fine, baby." Tony reached up with his free hand and placed it at the back of Bruce's neck, leaning down to properly kiss him. "And the second I'm not, I'll let you know." He slid his arm down to his husband's waist, gently bringing his husband against his side. Tony looked towards the dance floor, smiling again when he caught Morgan's gaze as she spun around, one hand in Eisa's and the other in Ella's. "At least someone's having a good time." He watched them for a few seconds longer. "Maybe this weekend could be a lake house weekend, though. I think we need it."

"Mhm, and I kinda see why he's about to go psycho batshit now, too," Bruce mused, nodding in the direction of where Loki was chatting with Clint. He turned his attention back at his husband, still not one hundred percent buying that he was fine but he decided not to push it for now. "You better. You know I hate it when you hide things from me," he mused when he pulled back from their kiss, his free hand finding Tony's. He looked at the girls, smiling because he wished they could be this carefree forever. But there was only so much they could do to keep it that way. "Let's make it a week. I'll have it cleared with Rafael and we will get a while to calm down. And maybe we will happen to not be in New York when Rudolph goes on a rampage again. I don't have a reason to Hulk-smash him through the concrete this time."

'Nonnaaaa.' Morgan all but flipped out of Bruce's arms and ran over to her—like she hadn't just seen her the day before. "Morgannnn," Peggy mimicked with a smirk as she lifted her up into her own arms. "How much sugar have we had, darling?" She gave her a knowing look, before taking a seat in the chair beside Bruce that Morgan had vacated, letting the little girl settle on her lap. "No rogue suits tonight?" She asked him, teasingly, but her expression softened soon after as she looked out to where Tony was mingling. "Is he doing okay?" ; @brcbvnner

"Morgan, we talked about this," Bruce gave his daughter a look when she was back at the table but she just smiled at him brightly and just like that - all sins were forgiven. "Hopefully not," he mused in answer before taking a sip of his drink. He couldn't help but feel on edge after what happened at their last gala but he knew that whatever he felt, his husband felt tenfold. "He says he is but we both know the truth," Bruce shook his head and kept his gaze on Tony for a little while. "How about you? Have you had the 'pleasure' to speak with any of those stuffy Asgardians?" he asked.

Morgan screamed when he grabbed her by the waist with one arm and threw her back into the water. She was laughing when she resurfaced and tried, with every bit of her strength, to get him to fall back in. "Morning," Johnny said, smirking, when their dad walked out to join them. He wrapped her in a towel before she could get Bruce all wet when she ran over to him. "You're welcome. She was standing outside your bedroom door like a psycho at 5 am ready to start her day." ; @brcbvnner

Bruce was usually the one getting up the earliest, with small exceptions of course. Like this morning when he looked through the kitchen window and saw his kids already playing by the lake. He rolled his eyes fondly before starting on the breakfast, and when he was done, he walked outside to meet them. "Hi monkey," he smiled as he caught Morgan in his arms, wrapping the towel more snuggly around her so she wouldn't get too cold. "Oh really? 5am?" he rolled his eyes playfully and booped Morgan's nose. "And what were you doing up at 5am like a psycho, son?" he asked teasingly and started walking towards the house. "Breakfast is ready, let's go."