Luckily for everyone involved, Tony’s used to dealing with people who don’t find his shit funny. Mostly, he deals with it by ignoring the dissenting opinion and carrying on anyway. But he’s here for the Hulk right now, not to be a contrary asshole, and when he feels him relax, he applies a little more pressure to the strokes against his hair.

Once the Hulk’s hand moves out of the way, he changes tactics completely, combing through his hair in long strokes, gently working out the tangles with deft fingers. He has some dim memory of someone doing the same thing for him when he’d been a very young boy, though it happened so infrequently that he hadn’t grown dependent on the comfort. What he remembers is that it is a comfort, and if it’s all he can give the Hulk right now, then that’s what he’ll give him.

And once his hair isn’t a bird’s nest anymore, Tony drags his fingernails over his scalp, adding a light scratch to what is quickly turning into a massage.