And now he’s trying to run. Let him do it or force him to stay? Tony has his own problems. He has a heap of issues miles high and his tried and true method of dealing with them is to avoid them completely. If someone brings them up, he snaps, he fights, he changes the subject, leaves the room, gets drunk, or destroys something. Anything and everything he can do to get away from the conversation and not be forced to think about it.

The right thing to do, the considerate thing, is probably to let him do it. To let him go and step back and allow him his privacy and his peace of mind.

Tony’s never been good at doing the right thing.

“Don’t you dare run away from me,” he snaps, hands fisting in back of Bruce’s shirt. “I had to stand there and listen to a part of you tell me that you’re lonely. I don’t care if he’s big and green, I don’t care if he doesn’t always speak in full sentences or if he has hands bigger than my head. He’s still part of you. He comes from you. And if I have to hear that any part of you is alone, you’re damn well going to stay here and listen to me tell you that you’re not alone.”