The conference room was empty right now, the booths that had been surrounded by people not so long ago were deserted and the shouts of people outside were still audible where the two men were crouched together. Blood was seeping onto the grey worn out carpet covering the floor. Bruce was frantically trying to find the sniper, he had to be somewhere in the room to get such a good shot at Tony from the front without getting caught. His eyes shot from one side of the room to the other one within seconds, every second, Tony was slipping away from him further. The man lay in his arms, the gunshot bleeding on his Armani suit but Bruce didn't care.

He couldn't let the tears fall down his cheeks until he was sure who he had to beat up to revenge Tony. He softly shook the man, keeping him awake and staring him straight in the eye. The two men made eye contact and Tony let out a shaky breath, his hand reaching up to Bruce's face and smearing it with blood that was on his fingers. Bruce took the hand in his own and kissed Tony's knuckles, finally letting several tears fall down his cheeks.

"It'll be fine," Tony croaked out, smiling up at Bruce who pursed his lips together and tried not to look away from the man in his arms to search further for the shooter. It was impossible to find him now, that was for sure, the crowd had dispensed and the sniper had probably just ran away with the crowd, blending in.

"You're bleeding all over the place, I fail to see the 'fine' part here Stark."

"I own the place anyway," Tony gasped out, "it needed a good reason for a new floor so it works out I guess."

Bruce sighed at Tony's attempt to lighten the mood but had to smile anyway, this was typical for the man and even when he was bleeding to death from a bullet wound in his chest, the man still wanted people around him to laugh and not get all depressive on his expense. Bruce stroked some of Tony's damp hair of the man's eyes and wondered where the ambulance was staying. Tony coughed up some blood, a sign that the bullet had clearly gotten close to his lungs or at least penetrated one of them. Bruce couldn't tell right now, the layers of clothing and the blood prohibited it.

"Bruce, I should've been dead long ago," Tony breathed out, his eyes closing a little.

"Don't say that," Bruce growled, "you're going to be just fine, and you just wait and see Anthony Stark."

"I guess that this is just a delayed time of death," Tony continued, "I don't mind, I've seen enough for this life, I want rest."

"Tony, you're delusional, you're not making any sense," Bruce blurted out, trying to keep the man talking so he would at least stay conscious, "where is that geek I was talking to not so long ago?"

"That one is in your arms bleeding all over your Armani suit, sorry for that by the way," Tony smiled up at Bruce, "I'll make sure Pepper buys you a new one with the money she inherits from me."

"Yeah, cause blood is so hard to wash out of this thing," Bruce rolled his eyes, "I don't give a fuck about this damn suit, nor yours, so don't even try to change the subject here," Bruce gritted his teeth together and glared at Tony grinning tiredly, "all I care about right now is you to survive this so I can kick your ass for scaring me."

"Don't get ahead of yourself Bruce, I don't think I'll survive this one, Extremis failed on me and I don't see a way how they'll be able to save me from the damage the bullet has done already."

"But, why, why would Extremis fail on you right now? How," Bruce couldn't finish his sentence as he looked away from Tony's guilt-ridden face.

"I don't know," Tony gasped out, "there must be a device in here that blocks it."

"But, who would be able to make such a device?"

"The only one, who could possibly do that, is Maya Hansen, and she's at my place in Malibu right now," Tony looked away and let several tears fall down his own cheeks. Bruce sighed and bowed down his head down to Tony's chest, not caring how the blood got in his hair.

"Stop talking, and focus on breathing," Bruce whispered, looking lovingly into Tony's eyes as he nodded slowly, the energy of life slowly seeping out of his body. The sound of the ambulances came closer and closer until suddenly Bruce was pulled up and lead away from Tony's body now lying still on the floor.

Medics surrounded the man and started doing the necessary to save him, giving him oxygen and holding back the bleeding, making sure that Tony wouldn't suffer from too much blood loss. Bruce was lead out of the building and soon left in the trusted hands of Pepper Pots and Happy Hogan, both of who's eyes were shining with unshed tears and worry for their boss and friend inside. Pepper hugged Bruce, her shoulders shaking as she held back a sob upon seeing that he was covered in Tony's blood. Bruce buried his own face in her hair and bit back some sobs himself, finding a slight comfort in Pepper hugging him.

"How…how is he?" she stammered once she pulled back from the hug and looked Bruce straight in the eye, something that was difficult enough without the man staring at the ground like he was doing now. Bruce shrugged, honestly not knowing how Tony was at the moment, he hadn't even been informed by the other medics on how he was when they pulled him away or assured him that he was safe. Bruce feared for the worst.

"I don't know. He looked rather pale when I was pulled away from him," Bruce admitted, looking visibly shaken and it was obvious that his legs could give up on him any minute now.

Pepper clasped a hand over her mouth and was quickly pulled in a hug by Happy who consulted his girlfriend who finally let the tears fall freely and not hide them anymore. The fear for the death of her boss was bigger than the PR of Stark Industries right now. Bruce quickly saw the medics leave the building with Tony and immediately ran after them, not even thinking of alerting Pepper and Happy who had sat down on a bench a bit further away from him.

"Excuse me but you can't go through miss."

"I don't think you know who you're dealing with here," Pepper glared, "I'm Mr. Stark's personal secretary so you better let me through and let me go see how my boss is holding up or-"

"Hey Maria," Bruce appeared behind Pepper and laid down his chin on Pepper's shoulder, making sure that she didn't get too much attention drawn to herself. The nurse blushed a little at seeing Bruce so suddenly, "can we go through? I got to go and kick Tony's ass for getting me out of a meeting earlier and all and it really can't wait."

"Of course Mr. Wayne, go right through, room 634."

"Thanks darling," Bruce smirked, leading Pepper away with his hand on the small of her back. She whispered a small thank you and motioned Happy to follow them. Pepper noticed how Bruce had cleaned up during the time in the bathroom and had clearly magically gotten a fresh suit. Pepper figured that he had to have one in his Lamborghini like Tony always did and didn't even ask about it. At least the man didn't look like he had just been through a personal trauma.

The friendship that Tony and Bruce showed to the public went deeper behind the scenes, Pepper knew this since she often walked in the kitchen of the mansion and found Tony and Bruce sitting at the kitchen table sipping from their coffee and just talking about nonsense. She had to admit, and had even heard this from Bruce's butler and guardian Alfred, Bruce looked happier around Tony than he did whenever there was a girl hanging onto his arm.

It didn't surprise the three friends that there was no beeping of a heart monitor in the room when they walked in. Tony lay on the bed, an oxygen mask over his mouth and his eyes closed. They had just managed to get the bullet out in time and stop the bleeding but he wasn't out of the trenches yet. His heart was safe though, which relieved them all. Bruce sighed and walked over to the chair next to Tony's bed, sitting in it and taking Tony's hand in his own before softly hitting the man on the arm.

"What don't you fucking understand of the words 'it can be dangerous'?" Bruce growled, glaring at Tony.

Pepper quickly walked over to her boss and started stroking the man's dark hair of his eyes, whispering words to him while Happy stood behind her with his hand on her shoulder. Bruce sighed and laid down his head on the bed, just next to Tony's thigh.

"Shut up," Tony croaked out, blinking and looking at Bruce whose head shot up from the bed.

"Tony!" Pepper rejoiced, her eyes suddenly filled with joy as she placed a kiss on his cheek, which made Tony grimace.

"Not so loud," Tony winced, "sick person here."

Pepper hit Tony on the head and then chuckled through the tears of happiness trailing down her cheeks. Tony grinned at her before placing the oxygen mask back on his face and taking a long breath. His hand quickly rested on his chest, just to see if there was any wound left.

"Extremis is still down," Tony said sadly, resting his head back on the pillow and looking away from both Bruce and Pepper staring at him.

"It'll come back online, trust me," Bruce smiled, stroking Tony's cheek.

"Did you text Rhodey already?" Tony frowned, "I don't want to get shot down again…"

"I texted him earlier saying 'IDIOT DOWN! I REPEAT! IDIOT DOWN'…I'm sure he got the message," Bruce nodded grinning.

"It's not like I hired somebody to shoot me. I'm not Adrian Veidt you know…" Tony scowled before turning to Pepper and staring at her with big pleading eyes.

"No."

Tony sighed and pouted before their conversation was interrupted by the doctor coming in the room, Bruce acted a bit weary towards the man when he was asked to step aside so the man could come closer to Tony. Bruce listened however, not wanting to get Tony all frenzied up because he couldn't listen to a doctor. He wouldn't hear the end if he did.

"Say it doctor," Tony grinned, "you're only keeping me here because you got a crush on me!"

"Idiot," Pepper muttered under her breath, ending in Bruce laughing and then looking at the ceiling, trying to avoid Tony's glare.

The doctor chuckled at the people in the room and opened the shirt Tony was wearing (after the man had thrown a fit over having to wear hospital gowns) to listen to his heart. Tony bit his lips, trying not to laugh at the glares that Bruce send at the doctor for touching him in the first place. He mouthed 'I love you' to the man and then closed his eyes, exhaustion taking over his body again.

"Bruce? Did you get the asshole who thought he could damage my perfectly tanned chest?"

Bruce sighed, "I didn't," he admitted, looking angry at the floor. Tony shrugged and didn't really care about it further. They would catch him, he was sure of it. He was Tony Stark after all...

"Well Mr. Stark, looks like everything is going to be alright," the doctor nodded, ignoring the mutter from both Bruce and Pepper that said 'except his head', "we'll keep you here for another few days to keep you under surveillance and then you can go home."

"Admit it doc, I'm too hot to stay here," Tony grinned, trying to get out earlier, "besides, have you seen my personal nurse?" he nodded towards Pepper and got an even wider grin, "I mean, I'll do a lot better at home than here."

"Psht," Bruce rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry Mr. Stark but I do have an idea how you live, we can't afford letting you leave early, you'll just have to deal with our nurses for a while."

"Me? I'm a perfectly honest businessman who follows his schedule down to the minute. I'm sure my nurse won't let me do anything drastic."

"What if I take him with me to Gotham? My butler has a medical background and when he's there, he can't have access to the Iron Man suit. Trust me on that one doctor."

"I'm not so sure if it's safe for Mr. Stark to fly in the condition he's in right now Mr. Wayne."

"What blasphemy is this? I'm perfectly fine!" Tony swung his legs over the side of the bed and got out of it, grinning at the doctor and walking over to his lover. His legs swayed a bit before he ended up tripping over his own feet. He was lucky enough that Bruce has good enough reflexes or he had found himself face down to the ground.

"You were saying Stark?" Bruce smirked and looked down at Tony who grimaced and then pouted. Bruce helped him back to the bed and squeezed his hand softly, making sure the doctor didn't notice it.

"Zip it Wayne."

Disclaimer: don't own anybody in this fix except Maria and the nameless doctor.